Someone Else's Summer
by Michi41
Summary: Features my OC. Outside of Danville is where Savannah is forced to stay at for her mother's job, and over there, she meets many new people, including the Reid family and Carson, someone very secretive about himself. But when Savannah's father, someone SHE is secretive about, comes back into the picture, what is she going to do to prevent her life from falling apart again? ON HIATUS
1. Introduction

**(It will be a pain to do so, since it is fifty freaking chapters long, but before reading this, you have to read my story **_**Unexpected **_**first so that you get background information on this story and learn why this will be **_**nothing **_**like the show.)**

**This will be my only author's note for the entire story, so please make sure to read this one, because it is important. And before you tell me that author's notes aren't allowed as full chapters, I have one thing to say: I really don't give a crap. Holy cow, I know, **_**what**_** a tragedy that I'm not following one stinking rule. Oh well. The creators of this site have more important things to wet their pants about.**

**All right. Let's say you've**__**read **_**Unexpected. **_**I applaud you and thank you; that was probably a pain in the ass to do so. So, anyway, to begin, this story focuses entirely on my OC, Savannah, and we'll learn more about her background, what happened between her and her father, why she is so cold towards her father, and we'll get more information about both of her parents in general.**

**But, this entire story will not focus all on Savannah's background. It will also focus on her summer after **_**Unexpected**_**. As you all know, her plot in that story involved finding out that her mother, because she received a ton of money from her ex-husband/Savannah's father, was starting a business. This business takes one kid from somewhere and swaps it with another kid from somewhere else so that each kid can live what would have been the other's summer. Savannah found out that her mother volunteered her to take part in this, so obviously, she was miserable. Because who wants to miss out on Phineas and Ferb's inventions, right?**

**Both of these plots will interwine, and there will be many twists and many turns, similar to **_**Unexpected**_**, but I assure you, this will be a different story from that. There will not be many mentions of the Phineas and Ferb characters, so really, this is kind of an original story (which really makes you question why I didn't just make this an original story, but...I don't know the answer to that, honestly). It's the second-biggest project I've ever taken on, since there will be many new characters introduced, some more important than others. It's pretty nerve-wracking... **

**But I'm excited about this, either way. How about you guys?**


	2. Bad Dreams and Bad News

_"WHAT did you say?"_

_The girl crouches back, her hazel eyes looking fearfully up at the man, who is glaring down at her. His hot breath reeks of something, something the girl cannot figure out what of, and she has to do her best not to wince. "N-Nothing," she stammers in reply, digging her back into the wall she is leaning against. She wishes more than anything for this wall to fall over, just so she can get away._

_"I think you know _exactly _what you said, miss," he snarls at her. His hand grabs her T-shirt, and he pulls her closer to him. Their noses are now up against the other. The girl knows better than to squirm and try to get away, but she can't help the single tear from falling from her eye._

_"Daddy," she croaks. "Please-"_

_"Don't even," he growls, picking her up with both hands and-_

* * *

"Savannah?"

Gasping, I instantly held a hand to my forehead. It was all sweaty, similar to the way it was in the dream, but this time, the sweat was real.

_It was just a dream._

I breathed a sigh of relief as my mother looked at me in concern. She and I had the same hazel eyes, but hers were more green while mine were more brown. "Savannah, are you all right?"

"Fine," I fibbed, sliding myself out of bed and fake-chuckling, when in reality, my heart was pounding and my limbs were all shaking out of fear. It...had felt so _real_. Almost as if it had really happened at that time and that place.

She looked at me suspiciously for a second, and I tried my best to not look her in the eye. Because our apartment was so tiny and the walls in there were paper thin, it would have been easy for her to hear me have trouble sleeping or even have trouble _in _my sleep. So there really was no point in lying. But I was anyway.

Finally, my mother sighed, easing herself off of the bed. In her left hand was the same coffee mug she had owned forever. The aroma of that coffee instantly filled the house every morning, and _that _was usually what woke me up. "If you say so," she said as I walked the five feet to get to the kitchen, grabbing a box of cereal and pouring it into the bowl. No milk was available, so I knew I had to eat it dry. "I just don't want you to be stressed out, since we're driving to the Reid's place today."

"Don't remind me," I groaned as I sat down at the little wooden table we had and shoved a spoonful of cereal into my mouth, hoping she would get the hint that I didn't want to be bothered with whatever she wanted to tell me.

She glanced at me, an uncertain look plastered on her face. She sat down at the table across from me, and I tried not to look at her once again. It was clear that she wasn't going to give up, though. "Look. Savannah, I know you're not thrilled about this. But have you even thought of the _positive _aspects that could come out of this? It'll be a whole new experience for you, and-"

"A whole new experience, huh?" I said in a sardonic tone, after swallowing. "Wow, that sounds _so_ uplifting. It _totally _changes my perspective on all of this crap that you're making me do."

My mother closed her eyes in exasperation. She had always been annoyed at my sarcasm. Didn't mean I was going to stop using it."Savannah, I just want you to have an open mind; that's all. I'm not telling you to go frolic off into a meadow and dance with the butterflies. I'm telling you to not be bitter towards something that you've never even tried. I think that's a reasonable request."

I bit my lip, glancing out of the only window we had in the apartment. If I squinted, I could see something big in a backyard, which I knew had to be one of Phineas and Ferb's inventions, which I knew I would be missing out on for the entire summer.

"Savannah. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

I snapped back into focus, looking back at my mother. One arm was wrapped around her stomach, and the other was resting on the table. She looked tired, annoyed, and it was because of me. It was _always _because of me. So, even though I didn't remember what she had told me before, I nodded slowly.

"Good." She exhaled, picking up her coffee mug and taking a sip. "Because I really don't think it's much to ask."

I said nothing in reply, just glancing down at the bowl of cereal. My heart was still pounding, and I could still feel a few drips of sweat on my forehead. These dreams were happening often, now, but each time I had one, the more of a reaction I had to it.

"Now, if you'll hurry up, we need to get going," my mother commanded as she stood up, walking over to the sink and putting her empty mug inside of it. She rinsed it off with some soap before placing it back into the cupboard. We were too poor to afford a dishwasher, and besides, it was a lot faster to just clean everything by hand, anyway. "It's almost seven, and I want to be on the road by half past that."

Again, I nodded slowly, bringing another spoonful of cereal to my mouth. It never took me long to get ready, considering I was pretty low-maintenance about everything. I always had been. All I had to do was throw on my jeans, my black T-shirt, and my gray hoodie, all of which I wore all year, comb my hair out with my fingers, sort of brush my teeth, and that was it. I could be done in three minutes, max.

* * *

Half an hour past that, we were heading out to the Reid's in the little car we were renting since owning one was too expensive. I was sitting in the front seat next to my mother in the driver's seat, and was staring out the window.

I didn't know the name of the suburb we were going to. All I knew was that it was about half an hour away from Danville, so that I _could _easily go back home if there were any problems. But I knew my mother would never let me even if there were. She had made too much of a big deal over this to do something like that.

My mother, after hesitating, looked back at me. "Savannah...I think we need to talk about something," she said quietly. "Something...that's been on my mind for a while that I just haven't had the guts to tell you about."

"I swear to _God_, if it involves this trip-"

"It doesn't," she interrupted. She sighed, as this time, I was the one to look over at her in confusion.

"It...doesn't?" I echoed.

"No." She tightened the grip on the steering wheel. "It's...about your father."

A bunch of images came rushing to my head at the sound of _your father_, and I had to do my best not to wince. Instead, I glared at her the best glare I could possibly give someone, and she recoiled as I spoke, my tone icy. "Do not call him my father. He hasn't _been _my father. He never _was _a father."

"Fine." She swallowed, and then straightened her position in her seat, like that would make a difference in the atmosphere the way it currently was in. "_It _and I... have been talking, again."

I refused to look at her even though I already knew this, instead looking back out the window again. I felt like I was going to cry, and I did not cry. "Why?" I said, my voice cracking. "Do you _know _what _it _did to us? _Do_ you?"

"I do," she coolly replied. She turned to the right, and I could see that we were now out of Danville. "However, I am trying to not be on bad terms with him-"

"It."

"It," she sighed. "I am trying to not be on bad terms with _it_, because I feel that if we keep avoiding each other, things will just get worse. So we got back in contact, and...I found something out this morning." She doesn't wait for me to reply, just exhaling and then saying it. "..._It _is moving back to Danville. Not with us, but..._it_ will be back in Danville."

I stiffened. I swore, at that moment, my heart literally dropped. I tried to speak, but couldn't, because my throat suddenly felt all clogged up. I felt helpless, alone, not different from the way I did in those dreams I had-

"Savannah?" She reached over to hold my hand, but I ripped it away, stuffing it into my pocket. I couldn't believe that she would do this to me. Now I had to be stuck in this stupid suburb that we were going to no matter what.

"Honey, it's okay to cry," she said quietly, blinking back tears of her own. "I had nothing to do with this, trust me. But...think about it, this _could _be an opportunity to-" She suddenly stopped speaking, wiping her tears away, as we were approaching a white house with a girl on the front steps who couldn't be more than sixteen, and that was pushing it. Her face lit up when she saw the car, and she instantly went inside of the house. Gosh, she was small.

"Well, this is it," my mother said after watching the girl. She looked at me, and, finally, I felt the courage to be able to look at her back as she reached over and grabbed my hands. Hers felt warm against mine. "I'll update you on anything going on, okay?" All of a sudden, I felt something plastic slip into my hand, and I looked down at it. My eyes widened.

"A cell phone?" I said, almost in disgust. "What the hell is _this _for?"

"So I can easily keep in touch with you and tell you what's going on." Before I could protest, she shook her head. "I, um, got it for free from the... company I started, so don't worry about going over the limit, because, um, there isn't one."

"Wow." I nodded. "Thanks...I guess." I carefully put the phone in my pocket as I grabbed the tiny little bag I had brought along filled with the few things I owned.

"No problem." She shrugged, and peeked back at the door. The girl was coming out of it now and had waved at us, but she was now making her way over to next door. I blinked, realizing that next door wasn't just another house, but...it looked like a restaurant. It _was _a restaurant, because there was a big ass sign on it that said _Reid's Pizza._ This family owned a restaurant?

"Mom, you didn't tell me they owned a restaurant," I said, staring at the building. "I thought Cass was an author." Cass was the mother of the family. "And...shouldn't someone from this family be going to Danville? Isn't that the way this whole program works?"

She didn't answer me. "Just go," was all she said, and, confused, I obliged, getting out of the car and shutting the door. My head was starting to spin from all of this, but I didn't want to let that show.

"Bye," I said to myself, really, since she had pretty much driven away as soon as I shut that car car door. I took a deep breath and turned around, beginning to walk to the house. Then, as a second thought, I turned and changed my path to be going to the restaurant. There were hardly any cars there, so I assumed that it wouldn't be crowded.

_Well, here goes nothing_, I thought as I reached the door to the restaurant, pushing it open.


	3. Meeting the Reids

_"You think this is OKAY?" the woman screams at her husband as she holds her daughter's shoulder. The man is biting his lip. It is clear that this is not the way that he wanted her to find out about everything that's going on. Really, he just didn't want her to find out._

_He stands up, towering over both his wife and their seventeen-year old. "It's not like she didn't deserve it," he mutters. He continuously keeps shrugging and avoiding both of their gazes. The girl is trying not to cry, because she doesn't cry. Ever. And when she does...she gets beaten. And she couldn't stand to let her mother see that._

_Meanwhile, the mother's face is contorted in anger. "YOU THINK SHE DESERVED IT?" the mother bellows. She lets go of her daughter's shoulder, which is covered with both recent and old bruises, to grab the man's arms. "SHE IS OUR DAUGHTER!"_

_"A daughter that's a BITCH, at that!" he yells back, yanking her hands off of himself. "You should see the way she behaves when you're not here. It's DISGUSTING!"_

* * *

Cautiously, I opened the door to the restaurant to see...pretty much nothing. There was a round girl serving people on the other side of the place a pizza, and there was a radio nearby that was playing jazz music. I wrinkled my nose, but I knew that it wasn't my place to change it even though this would technically be my home for the next two months.

"Can I help you?"

I turned around to see a blond girl wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and gym shorts staring at me from the podium thing that a hostess stood at before taking you to the table. She looked to be in her late teens or early twenties. "Oh, um..." I hesitated. "See...this is going to sound really awkward, but-"

The girl's facial expression changed suddenly. Before, it was a bored, unreadable expression, but now, it perked up. Slightly, but it perked up. She took her elbows off of the podium. "Oh, you must be Savannah. Mel said she saw you out there."

"Mel?"

"My sister," she clarified, turning around and beckoning me to follow her, of which I did. "Shoulder length brown hair? Insanely short?"

"Yep." I nodded, suddenly feeling a little uneasy.

"She went over to the kitchen, which I'm taking you to right now. My mom and Reed are in there, too, and Cheyenne's out there serving someone."

"Wait." She stopped, and I stood there, recollecting everything she just told me. My mom had mentioned Cass, Reed, Cheyenne, and Mel...she never really talked about another girl. Sure, she mentioned that that girl would be coming to Danville, but that clearly never happened. I was starting to feel a bit uneasy, and I hoped that it wasn't showing. "So...you're not Cheyenne?"

The girl laughed a laugh that wasn't exactly a laugh, but it wasn't a giggle or chuckle, either. It sounded fake, or, a better word, forced. "Nope, the name's Lani." She rolled her green eyes, reaching up to adjust her ponytail even though it looked fine. "They forgot me when they filled out the form, didn't they?"

"Well...my mom never mentioned you..." I still didn't look at her. This was really starting to get awkward, and it was starting to get obvious.

"Well, that's not surprising. I'm the forgotten one around here, anyway." She faked a laugh again before turning around and beginning to walk again. We stepped through the automatic doors that lead to the kitchen, and Lani cleared her throat before yelling. "Mom! Savannah's here!"

A blond woman poked her head out of the kitchen. Stray pieces of hair were falling out of the bun on the back of her head, and she looked tired. Yet, when she saw me, a grin lit up on her face. "Oh, hello," she greeted me. She came out of the kitchen, completely stepping through the doors, and stood in front of me. It looked like my mom had told her that I hated being touched, thankfully. She didn't always remember to do that. "My name is Cass, but you probably already know that."

I nodded, trying to maintain eye contact, but it wasn't easy. She had on what I thought was way too much makeup to be working in a restaurant. But then again, it didn't look like this place got much business, anyway. The couple Cheyenne had been serving earlier were the only ones sitting in a booth, and she seemed to be chatting with them. There was also a guy that looked to be about Lani's age sitting at the counter a few feet away, earbuds in his ears and staring down at his phone. But that was it.

"So, yeah." Cass cleared her throat, turning her back on me to look back into the kitchen. For some reason, the doors had stayed open. "You have to pardon my appearance...I normally look somewhat more decent. But one of the ovens broke, and Reed is attempting to fix it, but that's not really going so well, unfortunately."

A guy who I assumed was Reed, who I could see sitting by this huge thing that had to be the oven, groaned, brushing his dark brown hair out of his face.. "Mom, I keep _telling _you that we need to call a frickin' repairman. For God's sake, it's not hard."

"Maybe I don't _want _to call a frickin' repairman," Cass snapped to her son, hands on her hips and suddenly looking annoyed. "_Maybe_ I think we can do this by ourselves and save ourselves some money."

Reed said nothing in reply, just rolling his eyes at her and returning his work on the oven. I bit my lip, still awkwardly holding the little bag of luggage I had brought along.

"Sorry about that," Lani muttered, leaning over to me. "My mom and brother are just stubborn. You might want to get used to it."

"Oh, believe me," I muttered in reply. "People are far worse back where I live."

Before Lani could reply, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned to see Cheyenne, who looked exasperated. Unlike the other girls in the place, her dark, wavy shoulder-length hair was down, and she had square shaped glasses that had to be cleaned sometime eventually.

"Oh, God," Cass groaned upon seeing her daughter's annoyed expression. "Don't tell me that Mel forgot to put soy cheese on the pizza instead of actual cheese for the Olsins-"

"Oh, but she did, so now they're gone," Cheyenne interrupted, frown now larger. She tossed her hair back, only to have it fall right back into place. "I swear, she will never do anything right that doesn't involve school. Why can't she just be, oh, I don't know, _normal?_"

"Soy...cheese?" I said slowly, blinking. I had no idea what Cheyenne had just said; I was that flabbergasted. "That exists?"

Cheyenne turned to me, expression on her face now unreadable. "Who the hell are you?" she asked me, sounding bored. A look of realization then came over her face. "No...wait...Sabrina, right?"

"Savannah."

"Right. Sorry." She didn't sound very sorry, however, just turning to her mom. It looked as if she had already forgotten I was there. Not that that was anything new for me. "Where the hell is Mel?"

Cass sighed, taking out the elastic in her hair and letting it fall loose, just a little above her elbows. "In the kitchen. But don't be too harsh to her-"

"_Melanie!" _her daughter bellowed, also appearing to ignore her. The guy at the counter looked startled at this sudden noise, actually lifting his head up before returning to his music. Cass, meanwhile, looked alarmed, rushing back into the kitchen after her daughter. Next to me, Lani shook her head.

"My God," was the first thing I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose. I could feel a headache coming on as a super skinny girl wearing a super skinny, short dress came into the restaurant and started to approach the hostess' podium. "Is it _always _like this?"

"Welcome to my world," Lani said dryly, walking up to the podium and fake-smiling at the girl who came in, who looked like she belonged in a club, not here. "Hello. Welcome to Reid's Pizza." She began to reach for the menus. "How many?"

"Just one," the girl said in a nasally tone about ten seconds later, after replying to a text message and turning off her phone. "I mean, my boyfriend was _supposed _to come in, but we just broke up, so, yeah. Not happening. Just one."

Lani looked confused as to why this girl was telling her this, picking up a menu from the pile available. "Um...okay, well, gee, I'm sorry about that-"

"Nah, don't be. We do this all the time. He's just being the usual idiot that he is." The girl gave Lani a sickly smile, one that a villian may possibly use before deceiving the main character. "May I have my table?"

"Um, yeah, sure." The blond, now looking a little flustered, led her over to one of the tiny little tables by the window. "So, um, your waitress will be with you eventually..." She hesitantly looked back into the doorway, where we could easily see Cheyenne and Mel yelling at each other. "...which could take a while. So can I get you a drink to start?"

"Hmm..." The girl considered her options as she looked at the menu. "I don't really think I want a drink. Can I just order?"

Lani blinked. "Well...yeah, sure, I think so, if you're ready. I highly doubt your waitress will be coming by anytime soon, anyway." She pulled a notepad out from her pocket as she sighed. "So, what do you want?"

"Hmm..." The girl tapped a perfectly manicured fingernail against her chin. "Give me a slice of pizza. And on it, I don't want any cheese, or any sauce. Oh, could you possibly make it fat-free, sodium-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free? Oh, and-"

"You sure you don't want a glass of diet air with that?"

The girl's facial expression changed as she looked behind Lani to stare at me. Lani turned around, too, mouth slightly agape. "Um..." The girl chuckled, raising her eyebrows at me. "Was that your idea of a _joke_?"

"You got me." I set my luggage down into a nearly booth, walking up several feet and staring at her, giving her my most intense look while crossing my arms. "We only have full calorie air."

Lani couldn't help but let out a snort, the girl's jaw dropping, before Cheyenne came darting back out of the kitchen. Her face was now bright red, and as she looked over at us, her eyes widened. "God dammit," she cursed, coming over to the table. "Lani, why didn't you tell me that we had a customer that was someone other than the Olsins?"

"You were busy," the blond stated, shrugging.

"Are you like, the main person here?" the girl wondered to Cheyenne, and she hesitated.

"Well, no," she said truthfully. She bit her lip, of which had a lip ring on it that I just then had noticed. "I mean...well, what's the issue here?"

The girl pointed a shaky finger at me. "This frickin' _bitch _thinks that she's so hilarious, being all sarcastic and everything about the kind of pizza I want!"

"You mean...your piece of unrealistically healthy bread that no one on the planet would want to eat other than twigs like you?" I told her. I knew I had just met her, and I didn't even know her name, but hey, I was finally getting the chance to be sarcastic to a bitch that wasn't my ex-friend Ginger from back home. This was good. This was something I was good at. "Oh, wait, I apologize. I shouldn't have said all of that to you. You wouldn't understand big words like that, anyway. My mistake."

The girl was now standing up in her seat, looking downright pissed. "Hey, here's a question. Am I allowed to beat your ass?"

"Am I allowed to give you an I.Q. test?" I fired back at her, trying not to force those memories back into my head. _Beat your ass..._

"All right, all right!" Cheyenne yelled, interrupting my thoughts. Good grief, when was she _not _yelling? She looked over at the girl, who was now fuming. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You are disrupting the rules of this restaurant."

"And you bitches _aren't_?"

"We happen to own the restaurant, so we can do whatever the hell we want in here," Cheyenne informed her coolly. "So, as that rule stands, that means that we can tell girls like you to go to places where girls like you are fed, not places like here, since we don't offer those services." She smiled sweetly. "Do you understand?"

The girl didn't answer, just picking up her things and leaving, not looking at any of us as she stomped out the door. The bell above the door rang, signaling that she was gone and very likely would never return. Hopefully.

"Um...wow," Lani said slowly, hand partially covering her mouth as her other hand picked up the menu sitting on the table. "That was crazy. You guys are _insane_."

"Why, thank you." Cheyenne was still smiling, clearly pleased with herself. "Just don't tell Mom Savannah and I made another customer leave, all right? She's already pissed at me as it is for screaming at Mel." She shrugged. "Not that I care, but still."

I didn't reply to any of this as they continued to talk, just sinking myself down into the booth where my luggage was, sighing loudly and thinking about how insane this family really was.

Man. This was going to be a _long _two months.


	4. What to Do Instead of Being Lazy

_The thirteen-year old girl cautiously pokes her head into the living room. Her father is sitting there at the couch, hand over his face. He appears to be intoxicated, so the girl obviously does not want to wake him up or, at the very least, disturb him. Otherwise, bad things will happen, for sure._

_Taking a deep breath, she takes one single step into the room, praying that the floor won't creak._

_It doesn't._

_Quickly and effectively, she walks across the entire room in order to get over to the kitchen. She knows that she will have to keep quiet there, too, but at least she got through one part of the day without being touched._

_The girl has always hated being touched._

* * *

Later in the afternoon, after about ten more groups had come in, Mel only messing up a pizza one time and burning one basket of bread another time, I was starting to grow restless. I had thought about asking if I could just go next door to the house and hang out over there, but I didn't want to sound rude or anything.

I also didn't want to be rude to Lani, who, in between her hostess duties, would always chat with me as I sat on the bench that I guess was supposed to serve its purpose for anyone who had to wait. I hadn't been to too many restaurants in my life, so I really didn't have a clue. But Lani, as I sat on that bench, would always try and strike up a conversation with me. I kept my side of the conversation limited, since I didn't really have much to talk about, but she didn't seem to care, just talking about whatever came to her mind.

I had come to the conclusion that Lani was probably the nicest of the family. Not that the others were horrible people. She just actually took the time to make sure I was somewhat okay and didn't just kinda blow me off like everyone else had. Hell, I hadn't even been formally introduced to Mel yet, though that wasn't really her fault.

You know who Lani reminded me of? My friends Katie and Milly from back home. There were other people in our giant group of I think eighteen people that I got along with fine, but those two were the only ones I could truly call my friends. I can't recall an instance where they were rude to me, even if I was rude to them. They were just good people. Like Lani.

"Hello," Lani was saying while smiling to the eleventh group of the day. Yes, I was actually keeping track, not just estimating. In the group was a mother and two kids that looked like they were about five and six. "How many?"

As she led them over to their table, I glanced over at my luggage bag, which I had dragged over next to me since it had started to get busier in the building. It _was _around lunch time, anyway. I wondered if it would be rude to ask if I could just have a slice of pizza. My mouth began to water. God dammit, I couldn't even _remember _the last time I had pizza.

"Savannah?"

I glanced up, startled, and above me was Cass. I noticed that she had changed into a manager's uniform, and wondered why she hadn't had it on this morning. Then again, it wasn't very busy in the morning. "Oh, um, hi," I said, trying not to sound awkward, but ultimately failing.

"So, how's everything going for you?" she asked me, sounding genuinely curious. I couldn't help but notice how blond her hair was; it was almost white. It was weird, because Lani's was more of a yellow blond.

"Well...it's okay..." I trailed off, looking through to the kitchen, which, quite frankly, wasn't that big. I could see the outline of Mel through the glass as she was making something that looked like some form of pasta. "It just seems really stressful around here, that's all. I'm not really used to it."

To my surprise, Cass laughed. "Don't worry, you _will_ get used to it," she assured me, not making direct eye contact with me. I assumed my mother had told her that I didn't like that, either. "I had a feeling that you would be uncomfortable here at first. But seriously, you'll adjust to it quickly."

I nodded, and with that, a thought that had been nagging in the back of my head all day resurfaced. "Um...yeah. But see, this is going to sound awkward, but-"

"Honey, I have two teenagers and two young adults. Nothing is awkward around here anymore."

I wasn't really expecting that answer. "Oh. Well...see, here's the thing. My mom told me that you were an author. She didn't tell me anything about..." I hesitated. "_This._"

Cass smiled, but also looked confused, at the same time. "Oh, but I _am _an author. An author of a book on how to make different kinds of pizza, that is. I've always loved pizza, and I wanted to put that love to good use." She then frowned. "I'm surprised she didn't tell you about the restaurant, though. I could have sworn I told her."

I shrugged.

"Well, either way. When you get comfortable here, do you think that you'll be able to work here?"

"Work...here?" I echoed.

"What, don't you know how to hear?" Cheyenne sarcastically said from behind us as she carried a bowl of spaghetti to a kid and a bowl of some other kind of pasta to his mother. I hadn't even noticed that she had heard us.

"Cheyenne Reid." Cass rolled her eyes as her daughter came walking past us again. "Was that really necessary-"

"It's fine," I informed her, smiling at her daughter. I had learned over time that the best thing to do when someone was sarcastic to you was to just take it in a good way. If you took it the wrong way, then that person would get mad at you, causing a rivalry. And I liked Cheyenne. I did. We had the same sense of humor, which really wasn't that common.

"Well, either way," Cass sighed as Cheyenne walked away, looking surprised at my response, "As I was saying, since we're all pretty much always here, you will be, too. Therefore, you'll probably want to do something more than just sit down watching everyone."

"Of course," I agreed, shuffling my feet a little.

"So, what kind of thing would you want to do, here? I know you're not great at talking to people, so you wouldn't want to have Cheyenne or any of the other waiters' jobs. Oh, wait, here's something else you should know. Everyone who works here outside of the family gets off on Mondays, which is today. Tomorrow, it will be much more busy, and there will be a lot more staff."

"Why Mondays, of all days?"

"It's the least busy day," Cass explained. "But, continuing with what I was saying, Lani and three other girls have hostess duties throughout the day. That job's pretty easy, but they can get a little talkative, too."

"Forget it."

"Hmm..." She tapped a finger against her chin. "Reed does all of the cleaning and stuff whenever he bothers to show up for work. Usually, someone else has to do it...oh, wait. Do you know how to cook? That's what Mel and three other guys do."

"I've never tried to make anything from scratch in my life," I truthfully tell her, now feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well, it's not hard. And, quite frankly, the customers here are used to us messing up. We actually just opened this place about two years ago, so we're still adjusting to the atmosphere, as well. But my daughter's actually not a bad teacher, and the recipes aren't that tricky, either. And I think you'll have fun doing it."

"Then make me do that." I shrugged again, as even though I was feeling uneasy, I didn't know exactly how else to respond. "I mean, really, if that's the best thing you can offer..."

"Great." Cass smiled at me, which made me smile for the first time that day in slight shock. People typically weren't genuinely happy with me, not that they had a good reason to be happy with me. My guardian for the next two months, meanwhile, then stood up, stretching her arms up. "Well, it was great talking to you," she informed me as she glanced over at a few tables that were busy eating whatever they had ordered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to ask everyone how their food is. Let's hope this goes well."

I nodded, and with that, she left me to sit on that bench alone, once again. From the podium, Lani looked over at me curiously, but I said nothing to her as I looked into the kitchen that wasn't far from where I was sitting.

I noticed that Mel looked flustered as she started rolling out spaghetti with one of those old-fashioned noodle makers, and by her, Reed was just sitting on a stool on his phone. I frowned. I hadn't really gotten an impression of the oldest kid in the family yet, nor had I for the youngest, but I could already see that Reed clearly wasn't a hard worker. And I hated that.

With that thought in mind, I stood up, taking my tiny luggage bag with me by throwing it over my shoulder, and I walked over to the kitchen doors. I could see Lani giving me a confused look as I did this, but I didn't care. I had to see what the hell Reed was up to.

Pushing open the insanely lightweight doors, I stood there as the doors swung shut behind me. "Hey," I said out loud, and Mel looked up, startled. I glanced at her, and nearly doubled back. Holy crap. She _was _small. She couldn't be more than four feet nine, if that. And she was supposedly sixteen?

Then remembering what I was there for, I cleared my throat. "I don't think I've been formally introduced to either of you," I said loudly, even though the place was echo-worthy; it was that tiny. I didn't know how the hell three other guys were going to fit in there tomorrow.

Mel blinked. "Oh. Well, um..." She hesitated, glancing away from me. She bit her lip before taking a deep breath, muttering something, and then turning towards me. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she couldn't look me in the eye. Not that I cared, since I hated making eye contact, too. "M-Melanie Reid, but please, I prefer to be called Mel. I-I mean, if t-that's all right."

"No problem," I assured her, offering a tiny smile.

"Try to ignore her stutter," Reed informed me as Mel turned bright pink, my smile disappearing. "She's had it her whole life, and she can't get rid of the damn thing."

What a jerk. "Well, you can't seem to get rid of your habit of using your damn phone during work, now can you?" I accused him. "You just _love _to be a lazy ass, now _don't _you?"

He stared at me, seeming to be a little stunned by my calling him out, especially considering the fact that we didn't even know each other. Clearly, he hadn't seen my argument with that girl earlier that day. But he brushed my comments off quickly, narrowing his brown eyes at me. "Exactly what gives you the authority to accuse me of being a lazy ass?" he said in an annoyed fashion. "Last I checked, I'm twenty-three, and you're, what? Fifteen?"

"I'm eighteen, soon to be nineteen in a couple months, thank you very much," I informed him, my hazel eyes also narrowing. "And you claim to be twenty-three, yet you're still living here and not going out and starting your own life like most people your age should. Unlike my family, I know that yours has money, so don't go saying that you couldn't afford college, because you _could _have.

"As for me telling you what's right and wrong, I am considered a United States citizen, and an adult according to law, so you can't go around saying I can't give you a piece of my mind if I want to. If who you are doesn't scream lazy, I don't know what does." I step closer to him. "So how about doing your whole goddamn family some kind of favor while you're failing at life by actually doing something _productive _with your time? Hmm? Or is that too exhausting and stressful for you to bear?"

After waiting a few seconds, being sure that I'm finished, Reed cleared his throat, looking extremely uneased. "Wow," he said, shuffling his feet across the floor. "You're good."

"You're even b-better than Cheyenne," Mel whispered. A panicked look then came across her face. "D-Don't tell her I s-said that, though."

"I won't." I looked over at Reed, who was now standing up and grabbing a broom, avoiding my gaze. I figured I would talk to him, anyway. "So, you get the picture, dude? Don't be the way you usually are around here. It's that simple."

With that, I turned around, walking outside of the doors, only to run into someone. Cheyenne. My eyes widened. "You...didn't hear any of that, did you?"

She gave me a strange look. "What the hell could you possibly have to say to those idiots in there?" she wondered, rolling her eyes. She began to push the doors open.

"Mel's not an idiot. And plenty. Plenty of important things," I informed her, walking away and sitting back down on the bench before she could reply, which, really, was probably a good thing.


	5. Mysterious

_"You like this? DO YOU?" the girl's father roars at his twelve-year old daughter, his hot breath reeking of alcohol, once again. One of his hands is clasped onto her shoulder; the other is very loosely entwined around her neck. _

_The girl gasps for air. All she had done was tell him how she had finally made a friend in her Fireside Girl troop that she had been forced to join, that friend being a girl named Ginger. In rage, her father had pinned her to the wall, and now, here they were. "Daddy," she gasps now. "I'm sorry-"_

_"Sorry for existing and ruining your mother's life AND my life and rubbing that into our faces now like a goody-goody? If so, good," he informs her angrily. He hears the jingling of the keys in the door downstairs, and, eyes widened, he releases his daughter from his tight grip, standing up and clearing his throat as the girl collapses onto the floor. As she does this, he turns around and glares at the helpless figure lying on the floor. "Not one word about this to your mother."_

_She nods imperceptibly as she crawls into her nearby bedroom, shutting the door behind her. He tells her this every time, and every time, she hasn't said a word about it to her mother. She doesn't want to think about the consequences that could happen if she did._

* * *

I woke up gasping for breath as Lani and Mel looked at me curiously over the bed. "Savannah, are you...okay?" the blond one wondered, blinking at me. I noticed that both she and Mel were already dressed and ready to go over to the restaurant. I assumed they had breakfast over there.

"Yeah," I replied, taking one last deep breath as I crawled out of the bed, reminding myself that it was all just a dream. I ran a single finger down my cheek, feeling the sweat collect onto it. "I'm great. Everything's great."

Lani looked at me suspiciously, narrowing her eyes, but before she could open her mouth, Mel interrupted unknowingly. "My m-mom said that y-you were working in the k-kitchen now." She backed away, as if I was going to molest her for talking. I wondered if she had anxiety issues, which wouldn't surprise me if she did.

"That is a true statement," I decided to say, slipping my worn-out-but-still-comfortable sneakers onto my feet that had been parked right beside the bed, as they always were.

"So I'll h-have to t-teach you everyt-thing," she told me. She literally had to tilt her head up to be able to look at me. I'm not kidding when I say that I was about a foot taller than her, easy. "T-the other guys in t-there could, too, b-but..." She hesitated, seeming to search for the right word.

"You're better?" I suggested as I tied my hair into one of those sloppy buns since I would absolutely refuse to use a hairnet to cover my hair that hadn't been cut in way too long.

"Sure." Mel shrugged, now looking uncomfortable. "You c-could say that. Carson's g-good, but a little goofy, and Wes and M-Mitch are just...weird, and-"

"Listen, I would love to have us keep chatting, but Mom's gonna get annoyed if we're not down there within the next minute." As Mel rushed out the door, Lani looked back at me, smiling slightly. "And yes. There's breakfast at the restaurant."

* * *

When we arrived at the restaurant, being that it was only eight in the morning, no customers were there yet even though it was already open. Because, let's get real here, nobody wants to eat hot pizza that early. At least, nobody I know does.

Noticing those little boxes of cereal at the bar that you really only see in restaurants, I grab one of them and one of the little bowls sitting next to them, pouring the cereal into the bowls. Lani and Mel did this, as well, and I saw that the other employees there were looking at me a little funny. Oh, right. They hadn't seen me before. But I wasn't about to introduce myself to them. They'd figure me out eventually.

"Savannah."

I nearly spit the cereal out of my mouth. Someone knew my name already? I looked up, seeing Cass across the bar from me. Oh. I suddenly felt stupid. "Cass," I replied, swallowing what was in my mouth. "Hi."

"Did you have a good night?" she wondered. "I know Mel can be a little loud in her sleep-"

"No, it was good," I interrupted, avoiding Cheyenne snickering from a few feet away. She was currently wiping tables with a spray bottle and a washcloth. The water looked a little bit like piss, and it could have been for all I knew, but I wasn't about to say anything about it. Speaking what was on my mind always got me into trouble, somehow.

"Good." The blond woman nodded, seeming satisfied, also ignoring her daughter at the same time as I ate my cereal in what had to be record timing. "So, as you can see, the other employees are here for today. The only ones you'll really need to know are Carson, Wes, and Mitch, since you'll be working alongside them. The others, you'll just figure out later."

"Sounds good." I really didn't know what else to say. There _was _nothing else to say. Realizing that I had already finished my breakfast, I rose from my seat at the bar, sliding myself down until my feet had hit the floor. Cass took my bowl from the counter, placing it into the single sink behind the counter, and then went over to her tiny little manager's office that she kept hidden next to the kitchen.

I took a peek into the kitchen, knowing that I would eventually have to actually go in there, but I didn't want to do anything about it just yet. I saw Mel, looking her usual flustered self, looking at several lists. She turned to a guy with black hair that was standing next to her, and after she told him something, he nodded, going out the little door that was located in the back. Deliveries for supplies must have just come in.

I also saw another guy, handkerchief tied around his head, just leaning over the wooden table placed conveniently in the center of the room. He looked bored, not that I blamed him. Again, hardly anyone came in the mornings. I could also see Reed, yes, the lazy ass, pretending to clean the outside of the oven with a baby wipe. Well, at least he was putting in a teeny bit of effort.

But where was the third guy that worked back here? I looked in closer, almost pushing the door open, only to regret it immediately afterwards when the door came slamming right into my nose.

"Ow," I cried, holding my hand to my nose. This wasn't the first time I had gotten konked in this area, but it was definitely the first time a door had been the one to do it. I looked up, only to see a blond guy looking at me. The third guy, the guy who had konked me in the nose. And...was he smiling?

"Hello," he said cheerfully, looking at me. He propped the doors open so that the kitchen would be easy to get in or out of. "How are you?"

I just looked at him, not wanting to believe what I had just heard or seen. I kept my focus of gaze on his hair, which was...odd. It was cut really short on the sides, but on top, it was like a really wild mess. You couldn't really say it was a mohawk, though, because it was too wide to be put into that category. It covered almost the entire top of his head.

I decided to reply after a couple of seconds, releasing the grip on my nose. I was sure that it had to be bright red. "Irritated as hell, thanks," I said snarkily, glaring at him.

He blinked. "Why is that?" he wondered, genuinely sounding confused. I wanted to hit him over the head.

"You hit me in the nose, asshole." I moved past him and behind the counter, sure that he wouldn't follow me. But, of course, he did. He stood beside me as I watched the first customer of the day walk through the door. I checked the clock. Eight-thirty. It was eight-thirty in the morning, and this woman wanted something from here.

The guy blinked at me again. "Goodness gracious," he said after a pause. "What _horrible _language."

I chose to ignore him. It was another one of my specialties.

"But, anyway," the guy continued. Clearly, he did not pick up on my vibe. "I just saw you through the window, and I wanted to come out and say hi. I figured you needed a friend."

Good God. "Oh, really?" I crossed my arms. "And it didn't occur to you that maybe I would get hurt in the process?"

"Well..." He hesitated, biting the bottom of his lip. His brown eyes gazed downward. He kind of reminded me of a lost puppy. "No, um, obviously not. But I just wanted to try and make you feel welcome, that's all." His smile returned to his face. "Kind of like a 'whoopee' for another employee in the building, you know? It's all in good spirit."

"Oh, Christ," I muttered. I wanted more than anything to be free of this guy's attention.

"So, anyway. I figure you should know my name, since we're gonna be friends, and all." He held out his hand. "I'm Carson. Carson Zales."

"The answer to a question I never asked," I informed him dryly.

He pretended to not have heard me. "What about you? You _have_ to have a name, right? You know, I've never met someone who was nameless, so obviously, you have to have one. Wait, let me guess. First question: Is it long, or short?"

God, this guy was chatty. "I'm not-" I began to respond, but was interrupted by a loud hacking sound coming from the other side of the restaurant. Startled, I turned around, seeing the woman who had come in first for the day over at a table. A piece of bread was in her hands, and on her face was a panicked expression.

Cheyenne, noticing this, ran over, her eyes wide. "Oh my God. Are you choking?" she asked the woman.

The woman nodded weakly.

"Okay, um..." She looked out into the restaurant, where everyone was staring at the scene, including those in the kitchen. The guy with black hair had returned to the scene, new boxes on the table that he had gotten. The woman, meanwhile, looked a little embarrassed, but Cheyenne didn't seem to notice. "Does _anyone _in here have some form of a medical degree?"

Everyone in the building gave her a blank stare. For some reason, Carson was the only one who looked nervous. Not that I cared.

"Oh, right. I forgot that this is a place filled with idiots." She rolled her eyes and groaned. "Does anyone know how to make a girl stop _choking_, at the very least?"

The guy who had looked bored before perked up. On his name tag, it said _Mitch_. "I just back up a few inches and let her recover," he informed her, shrugging.

Cheyenne closed her eyes in exasperation as some of the other staff looked at Mitch in disgust. "On food, you goddamn idiot. _Food."_

"Oh." He looked sheepish. "Then, uh, no. Sorry." He returned to doing whatever he did in the kitchen.

Next to me, Carson took a deep breath. "I know," he announced, walking around the bar and taking the center stage of the scene. His voice was loud and clear.

The woman's face brightened up, even though it was now turning purple. Cheyenne, on the other hand, scoffed, and a few of the other staffers chuckled before returning to work. "_You _know CPR?" she said, appearing to hold back a laugh. "Wow, and to think that I thought I already knew all of the things you think you're great at, but in reality, you fail miserably at them."

"Just give him a chance," Lani informed her. She looked at Carson, who smiled, and he then looked back at me. I didn't look at him back, since I didn't want it to look like I cared whether or not he existed.

His face fell a little, but he pretended not to let it affect him, just clearing his throat and walking over to the woman. I didn't bother to watch what he was doing, just going inside of the kitchen and just kind of standing at the doorway, back facing whatever was going on.

The kitchen was loud, and was already hot from the ovens, so Mel looked exhausted even though she really hadn't done much in the day yet. She was currently taking all of the things out of the boxes and arranging them into the right places. I could see that they were all different ingredients needed to make everything.

At that point, I heard some cheers and clapping, as well as the woman giving Carson a thanks. I heard him reply that it was nothing before I heard his footsteps coming back to where I was. I didn't bother to turn around, as for some reason, I was annoyed with Carson. No, not just annoyed. Pissed off.

"You know, I still didn't get your name," he said from behind, in a tone that I couldn't quite figure out, but it still annoyed me more, nonetheless. Why couldn't he just go away?

I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't. "Savannah," I muttered, moving over a few inches to see if he would go away and get the hint that I really didn't like him.

Of course, he didn't. "Savannah?" I could practically hear the grin coming onto his face. "That's a pretty name. I think it describes you really well."

I didn't reply, just rolling my eyes and going over to Mel, of whom blinked at me. "So," I started to tell her, reaching behind me to see if the bun on the back of my head was still secure. It was. "When can I-"

"Hey," Mitch interrupted. "Are you the girl staying with the Reids for the summer?"

I exhaled, trying not to lose my patience. Did _everyone _know about me? Was I really that great of a person? No, I wasn't. "Yes. Yes I am."

He nodded, turning to the guy who had to be Wes and holding his hand out. "Dude, you owe me five bucks."

Wes looked bewildered. "What for?"

"Remember the bet we made? About whether Carson would try to hook up with the girl that came over here?"

"You bet on me?" Carson and I both yelled at once as the former turned bright red. He was actually the first to turn away from me, not vice versa.

"Plus, I'm not trying to hit on her-" Carson tried to explain as he did this, but Mitch cut him off.

"Yeah." He shrugged, as if betting on people was a totally normal thing to do. "I mean, he hasn't _done _anything remotely interesting lately since his..." He trailed off. "Um, never mind. So, uh, anyway, we just figured that he might try something new, since _you're _something new, and-"

"Since what?" I wondered, ignoring everything he had said after that.

Mitch bit his lip. "It doesn't matter." He glanced uneasily at Carson, who nodded, lips clamped shut.

I know I've pretty much implied that I don't give a single crap for these guys, and I really don't, but when I find something suspicious, I like to know what's going on. I always have. I mean, while Carson is annoying as hell, he's a pretty nice guy, I have to admit.

So what could someone like him possibly be hiding?


	6. The Arts Festival

_"What patch are you going to try to get next?" Ginger asks her new best friend, who is studying the guide to all of the patches that can possibly be earned. Often, the Fireside girls will try to earn patches all together, but today, they have decided to try to get some that they can earn individually. They are scattered all throughout the cabin trying to achieve some of their goals._

_"I'm not sure," the girl replies to Ginger's question. She shrugs, flipping another page and scanning it, making a face. "But I'm sure I'll think of something eventually. There's only about ten thousand patches in here."_

_Ginger giggles, even though the girl didn't mean to be funny. "I know. But you'll get used to all of this, I swear." She gestures to everyone else in the room, including Lilly and Aubrey, two other new girls that the girl doesn't know very well yet. Then again, besides Ginger and sort of Isabella, she doesn't know anyone in the group yet. "Wait till you get to go to Phineas and Ferb's. It's _so _awesome."_

_"If you say so."_

_"Really," Ginger insists. She smiles, knowing that her friend isn't used to all of the craziness in Danville yet. "They're insanely nice, and so cool, too."_

* * *

"Believe me, Savannah," Lani insisted from across the table we were sitting at. It was our dinner break, seven PM, and surprise surprise, we were eating Italian food, the names of which I didn't want to bother to try and pronounce. We had chosen to sit by the claw machine in the lobby that distributed stuffed animals only a blind person could want. For some reason, Lani preferred to sit on the floor rather than an actual table. "Carson's insanely nice once you get to know him."

"He may be insanely nice," I agreed halfheartedly, picking at a near-empty plate of French fries that were meant to be for the kids menu, but I had wanted them anyway, even when Cheyenne looked at me strangely when I asked if there were any here. French fries were like a gift sent down from the gods. How could these people not know that? "But he's still unbelievably annoying."

Lani shrugged, swallowing the piece of penne in her mouth. "You get used to it," she informed me. "He and I have been friends since like, middle school, when we were the only kids in our school who wanted to join the science fair, so they made us pair together during the competition." She shrugged, chuckling a little. "He's hard to understand, that's all. A lot of people don't like him, because of his reaction to..." She trailed off, the chuckling halting. "Never mind."

"Fine." I really hadn't heard anything that she had said, because I really just didn't care.

Footsteps were heard, and someone cleared their throat above us. I looked over at Lani, who had looked up at the person. She was smiling, so I reluctantly looked up too. Speak of the devil... "Hi, guys," Carson said in his usual cheerful way, sitting next to me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Hi," Lani said back, almost just as cheerfully. She took another bite of her pasta, covering her mouth as she chewed. "How was work, today?"

He shrugged. "All right. But cooking _really _tires someone out throughout the day." He now looked at me as if I were a friend of his, of which I was not and never would be. "Don't you think so, Savannah?"

I knew he wouldn't leave me alone if I didn't reply, so I sighed and muttered, "Yeah."

"So," Lani interjected. I think she had the feeling that the conversation he was trying to have was not going to end up well. This was why I liked her. She understood when it was my breaking point, and we had only known each other for two days. People I knew for two _years _often couldn't catch that vibe from me. "Dude, are we still on for that arts festival over in Danville tonight?"

Arts festival? In Danville? I instantly perked up as Carson replied. "Yeah, definitely," he informed her, nodding as his eyes grew brighter. I had to admit, his eyes weren't bad looking. That didn't make me like him any more, though. After all, outside appearances never mattered to me. "It should be fun, I would think." He looked over at the kitchen doors as Lani smiled and then turned to me.

"Are you into art?"

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that she was talking to me. I finished eating my latest French fry before replying. "I don't know. I think it's cool, I guess, but I'm not really into it."

Lani nodded. "That's cool. My boyfriend is at his dad's booth, and his dad's a painter or something of the sort, so I wanted to come and support him even though I pretty much have the same opinion as you on the subject." She looked at me. "You wouldn't want to come, would you? I mean, it _is _in Danville..." She trailed off. "But Carson's coming and all, and I wouldn't want to-"

"Meh. I'll just ignore him." I stood up, as I had finished the last of the French fries, and tossed the plastic plate into the nearby garbage can. My stomach told me that I should eat more than just French fries, but I was used to not eating as much as I should have been. "Let's go."

Carson, hearing these words, moved his head around so that he was looking right at me. He started to smile. "You're coming?"

"I believe I just said that, yes," I said in as dryly of a tone as I could muster. I hoped I wasn't making a mistake in going to this thing. I could barely tolerate this guy as it was.

"Then, what are we waiting for?" He stood up as well, and waited for Lani to do so too before adding on to his previous statement. "Let's get going, shall we?"

My God, he even said _shall_. I hated when people said that.

* * *

I was starting to regret coming to this thing in the first place.

I had had my eye out for Phineas, Ferb, Katie, Milly, or anyone that I tolerated that lived in Danville. Unfortunately, one of the only people I had seen was Lilly Carlson, who I had never really gotten along with. She was with her boyfriend that I couldn't remember the name of. I also saw the former town bully Buford Van Stomm, who was with his girlfriend, Vienna Thompson, of whom had to be one of the most irritating people I had ever met. So, overall, I wasn't having a ton of luck.

I think Lani could sense when I was getting annoyed, because she had a sheepish look on her face. We stood back as Carson talked to Wes and Mitch at a basket weaving booth. Both had also come in from where they lived, so she took that chance to talk to me. "You know, Savannah, if you don't want to stay here, we can always leave-"

I interrupted her by waving my hand in a short, swift motion through the air. It was almost creepy how kind she was, and it made me uncomfortable. "Nah, don't mind me. I'm not going to ruin your night just because I'm more irritated than a bear awoken during hibernation. We're staying."

"But-"

"Lani." I gave her a look that said, 'Stop it', and she sighed.

"Fine, fine." Her face then perked up at the sight of a certain booth, and she started to grin. "That's Adam's dad's booth," she whispered to me, as if it was this huge secret that only I could know. She giggled. "Stay calm for me, okay?"

"I'll try to control myself," was what I said out loud, but in my head, I thought, _What the hell was _that _supposed to mean?_

She laughed out loud like it was the funniest thing in the world. I just stood there, baffled. Why was she acting dumber than all of the reality TV stars combined, all of a sudden? But, not long after thinking that, I came across my answer.

Standing in front of one of the painting booths a couple of yards away was a guy that...wasn't well polished, to put it simply. But Lani was looking at him like he was a piece of glassware worth millions of dollars. Squeaking with anticipation, she ran up to him, and from the distance, I could see the both of them hugging. After a couple of seconds, he lifted her up into the air, making her shriek and laugh like crazy. I wrinkled my nose and turned my head away, not wanting to see any more. The fact that they were doing that in front of what had to be hundreds of people just made it all the more ridiculous. Then again, I thought love was ridiculous, in general.

"Makes you want to vomit, doesn't it?"

With a yelp, I turned all the way around to see Carson, who was shaking his head. This was the first time I had heard him not sound like he belonged on the cast of a cheesy children's show that should have gone off the air ten years before, but for some reason, it was still running. "What?"

"It's gross, I know." He gave me a joking look, and when he saw that I wasn't going to return the favor, he cleared his throat and turned away. I figured he was finally starting to realize that I didn't like him. It had only taken so long. However, he still talked to me. "He treats her like crap when they're alone. Yet, she's still with him." He sighed, looking at Lani and Adam with an almost wistful expression.

I surprised myself by responding. "You don't...like her, do you?" I wondered, even though the idea made me want to puke my insides out. She had said they had known each other for a while, so...

He looked at me, and he surprised me for the second time that minute by bursting out into laughter. "Me? Liking...Lani?" he managed to say in between snickers. He was trying to hold his mouth shut, but it wasn't working. "Oh, God...that's hilarious."

"So you don't?" I clarified, struggling not to start laughing, as well. Unfortunately, I had a bad habit of catching laughter even when I thought that what the person said wasn't funny at all. I blamed it on my mother, who had the same problem. Speaking of my mother, I wondered if I should have called her...

"Oh, Jesus, no." He finally caught his breath, holding his hand to his chest. People were staring at him, but he didn't seem to care. "Phew. That was definitely my workout for the night. Gotta keep those lungs in shape, you know?"

I let out a snort without even thinking about it, mentally cursing at myself. Luckily, Carson didn't notice. "So, anyway, no, I don't like her. I haven't liked anyone since..." He trailed off, his voice changing at the last second from somewhat upbeat to...almost miserable? "Um, never mind." He bit his lip.

"What?"

"It's nothing." The tone in which he spoke to me nearly took me aback. It was definitely not a normal tone, at least, for him. "Here...let's go see what Lani's doing."

I decided not to press further on it, deciding to do something else that I had meant to do but just hadn't gotten around to it yet."You go do that." I took the phone I barely knew how to use out of the pocket of my jeans. I didn't put them in either of the pockets of my hoodie since I liked to put my hands in there. "I have to call my mom."

Carson blinked at me, and then, almost as if his weird and sudden mood change never happened, he gave me one of his cheerful smiles, his eyes shining. "Oh, yeah, of course. You go do that." He winked at me, and before I could respond, he hurried off to meet Lani and her apparently-not-so-good boyfriend.

Frowning slightly, I looked back down at the phone in my hands, and then back up at my surroundings. I sighed as I realized that I was going to have to find a more quiet place to do this. The last thing I wanted was for my mom to think that I had become a person who liked going to social gatherings.

* * *

"Mom, we need to talk."

I was currently sitting on a bench in a park that was conveniently placed right next to this festival thing. I could still hear the pandemonium going on from over there, but it wasn't loud enough to be heard over the phone, thankfully.

Not too far away, my mother sighed. I could hear her fiddling with something, or she could possibly be tapping her nails against the table. Whatever she was doing, it didn't make her sound any less tired than she usually was. "What about, Savannah?"

"About the way you failed to tell me some important information." I didn't keep the roughness out of my voice. "And also information you told me before that wasn't actually true."

"Savannah." She sighed. "Look, I'm, um, very tired from work, so, uh, could we have this conversation some other time-"

"Absolutely not," I informed her, my voice shrill, and I could practically hear her shrinking back. Good. "Okay, so first of all, you failed to tell me that they owned a restaurant. This restaurant of theirs is almost their _entire _life. Yet, all you told me was that Cass was an author, which is only partly true."

"Because that was all that she put on the form. She must have forgotten to put that she had a-"

"Oh, _really_?" I leaned back against the table attached to the bench, even though it was anything but comfortable. My voice began to raise. "Did she also deliberately forget to add her own frickin' _daughter _to the form, too?"

"Savannah, come on." She was starting to sound irritated. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Stop giving me crap, Mom." I rested a hand against my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "For God's sake, what else are you hiding from me? Next thing I'll know, I'll find out that they raise a whole alien colony up on Mars and are going to invite me to join them in a sing-along up there because, guess what? That would be yet another _frickin' _thing that you didn't tell me!"

No response. "Mom? You there?" Again, no response. Goddammit, she must have hung up. Groaning, I shove the phone into my pocket. I should have known that she wouldn't have wanted to listen to me.

* * *

"Savannah? Savannah, is that you?"

Rolling my eyes heavenward, I turned around about ten minutes after that unsuccessful phone call to see Carson, Lani, and Adam, the first two looking relieved while the last one just looked bored, barely grasping onto Lani's head and looking as if he wanted to go to bed. "Oh, there you are," Carson continued. Why did he look worried? "You just kinda went off without saying anything, so Lani figured you might be here since it's quiet." He appeared to want to say something, but he didn't, so I replied.

"Well, guess her psychic abilities worked well, then."

Lani laughed, and then her expression grew more serious. "But, Savannah, I wanted to ask you something...um..."

"She wanted to ask if she could just go hang out with Adam while we just did our own thing," Carson said for her, and she nodded, biting her lip. He gave me a hopeful glance, and I ignored him, looking straight at Lani and nodding even though I knew it meant I would have to suffer through hanging out with the person I couldn't stand. I knew it would just upset her if I said no, and besides, it wasn't like I was the boss of her.

She started to grin. "Oh my God, _thank you_. You are amazing," she informed me, grabbing her so-called boyfriend's hand and walking away. I couldn't help but notice that Adam had started to frown before she did this.

Well, either way, she had better give me that compliment, considering the misery I was putting myself into. I looked at Carson, and he shrugged. "Looks like you're stuck with me," he said, smiling in the friendly way he did it, clarifying what I didn't want him to clarify.

I was going to be stuck with him for possibly the rest of the night.

Damn.

* * *

**All right, I can't take not doing author's notes anymore. Forget what I said in the introduction. Some of you have questions or comments, and sometimes, I feel the need to answer/reply to some. However, if you're an anonymous reviewer...I can't do that. So, starting next chapter, I'll comment on the chapter like I used to for previous stories, or do as I stated above. Because I tried not doing that...but it wasn't working for me. I like to be able to interact with you guys, you know? I just miss not being able to do that. :/**


	7. The Food Truck

_"Mom, please," the girl cries as her mother is just about to step out the door for the day. "Can't you just stay home for once, and, you know, we could do something together? Just the two of us?"_

_"Honey, you know I have work to do," her mother sighs, peeling her fourteen-year old daughter's hand off of her own. She couldn't understand why her daughter was still so clingy to her. Wasn't that stage supposed to end ten years ago? "You and your dad have fun, all right?"_

_The girl believes that she _will _have fun...at least, until her father will start to drink. Then things will get out of control way too quickly. It's like this every single day that she's not at school. But she wasn't about to tell her mother any of this information. "Yeah, sure." The girl swallows. "You have fun."_

_Her mother snorts. "Yeah, because the work I do is so fun." She ruffles her daughter's hair. "It's alright, sweetie. I'll be back, and maybe we could go out to dinner together while your father is at work."_

_The girl smiles. Now, all she'll have to do is think about getting out of the house all day, and then she'll be fine. She'll just have to cover up whatever bruise she gets today, somehow._

* * *

I grudgingly followed Carson through the festival, through the various booths of different art things. I still couldn't believe Lani had abandoned us like that. No...abandoned _me _like that. After all, there would have been no way in hell that I would have come here without her. But now, if you didn't count the hundreds of people surrounding us in what would be pitch blackness if lights weren't set up everywhere, I was alone. With Carson Zales.

"So," he said to me to try and break the awkward silence that had formed. I knew he was trying to be friendly, but I wasn't anywhere close to a friendly person, so I couldn't really identify with what he was going for. "What kind of art do you enjoy the most?"

Playing with my hair, since I felt so uncomfortable that I didn't know what else to do, I sighed and decided to reply. While I didn't like him, I wasn't going to be rude. "I don't know. I know nothing about it." Which was the truth.

He started to smile. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He waved his hand through the air as if he were frickin' Dora the Explorer leading whatever poor unfortunate soul who decided to watch to her destination. "We should go find out what kind of art you enjoy. After all, these festivals are here every Tuesday. You might want to come back again and find something specfic that you're looking for."

"Never gonna happen." I crossed my arms.

He didn't seem fazed by my response. "Either way, we might as well look at everything. There are some really crappy things here, as well as some really cool things." He shrugged. "You really never know what you might find here. And didn't you say you had friends here?"

"Sort...of." It was kind of true, kind of not. I really wasn't friends with that many people, but I had been hoping to run into people I didn't dislike. Which, clearly, hadn't worked out so far.

"Let's hope you find those friends, then. You look miserable." He gave me a glance, one that wasn't exactly sympathetic, but it wasn't really a cheerful, kid-like glance, either. It was one that...showed that he cared. Even as I kept pushing him away and being cold towards him, even though we barely knew each other, he kept coming back. Because... he cared. About me.

I shook those thoughts out of my mind, since they were really out of character for me, but kept that glance in my head. Because that was all that I could think about as I nodded, now somewhat willing to put up with whatever he had planned. Maybe this wouldn't be such a terrible idea after all.

* * *

It was a terrible idea after all.

"Do...you like this?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay." Shrug. "How about this?"

"No."

"This?"

"_Hell, _no."

This kind of stuff was pretty much all the both of us said as we walked through the aisles of all of the booths in the grass of whatever field this was. While I was annoyed as I could possibly be, Carson wasn't. In fact, he was still trying to find something I would like. But at this point, I doubted that that would be happening.

"Dude, seriously," I groaned, rolling my eyes as he was biting his lip, trying to find something that was new, something we hadn't seen yet. "This isn't necessary-"

"No, no." He brushed me off, offering a half smile even though he knew I wouldn't reciprocate it. "You deserve to be at least somewhat happy. I mean, as far as I know, it wasn't your choice to even go to our part of the Tri-State area, was it?"

I blinked as I suddenly stood still at the spot we were at, which was in front of some ceramics booth. How could he have possibly known that? Oh, wait...maybe my behavior gave it away.

"Cass talked to the guys and I in the kitchen a few days ago, and she told us about you coming here and how you weren't exactly thrilled about it." He glanced at me. He must have read my mind. Somehow, even though it was continuously getting darker even with the lights on, I could still see those warm brown eyes of his. "And, well, since that day, I've been thinking about how to make you feel better. No one should have to just be pulled away from home like that without their own consent."

I swallowed. I still didn't know why Mom lied to me about some things, and I had pretty much come to the conclusion that something about this wasn't right. She said this was an _exchange program_. But clearly, that wasn't true, since there was no exchange that went on.

What else could she possibly have been hiding from me?

I wasn't about to express any of that to this guy; however, I knew I had to respond somehow. So, I sighed, looking as if what he said didn't hit me in some way. "No. No they shouldn't."

I began to start walking again, and he stayed right beside me. He was only about an inch taller than I was, so it wasn't hard for him to keep up with me or vice versa. "Wait. Stop."

I exhaled, turning towards him. "What?"

He turned his head towards a place, and I looked over to see a food truck behind him. He cleared his throat. "I figure, since you aren't a big fan of this kind of stuff, that maybe you would want to get something to eat instead." He shrugged. "I mean, it would be pretty hard to not be a fan of food."

I snorted without even thinking about it, making him grin. "There we go. So, what do you say?"

"I don't know..." I bit my lip. Back when Mom and I were forced out of our house by the bank, the first place we went to was a food truck on the road. I preferred to not think about that day, as it only brought up bad memories I really didn't want to relive. So I figured I would make something up. "I...ate something from a food truck once, and I got food poisoning." There. That sounded believable, right?

Carson chuckled. "Oh, Savannah. You haven't _tasted _food as good as this. Believe me. Do you eat meat?"

I looked at him oddly.

"Because, you know, some people don't, and this is a food truck with burgers and stuff and...oh, never mind." He looked somewhat flustered, for some reason, smile disappearing for half a second before returning again. "Never mind."

"Yeah, I eat meat," I answered slowly, wondering what the hell was wrong with him at the same time.

"Okay. Cool." He straightened up a bit. "Yeah, that's, um, cool. Let's go."

I didn't have time to think about how he was going into one of his weird phases, as he was walking faster towards the food truck, surrounded by about twenty picnic tables, of which half were occupied. So, I had no choice but to walk faster after him.

* * *

I had to say, I was surprised. This was actually pretty damn good.

Carson watched the expression on my face change as I took the first bite of my burger from the food truck that he had insisted on paying for. He had gotten one as well, but I knew that he just wanted to prove me wrong when I said I couldn't eat things from a food truck. And boy, was he right. "Holy _shit_," I said, my eyes wide. "That is amazing."

He snickered. "Told you." He took a bite of his, nodded in satisfaction, and then swallowed. "And I assure you, you won't get food poisoning. This truck is actually from an actual restaurant a few blocks away from the Reids' place, so you're good. No contamination or rats or anything."

"I never-" I then remembered the fib I had told him. "I mean, um, yeah. No food poisoning, yay."

He snickered again. "You're funny," he informed me. "Really funny. Are your friends back at home like this, too?"

I couldn't help but smile a little at his compliment. I sure didn't get them often. "No...I'm one of a kind back from where I come from. Everybody's either insanely nice, super dramatic, or are just bitches in general, of which I'm none of the above."

"Yeah...same here." Carson shuffled a little in his seat, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Lani's always telling me that you're like the first one."

"Sometimes." He shrugged. "But I like to think I'm more than that. Honestly...I'm not really known as Mr. Nice Guy around here." A panicked expression came across his face, all of a sudden. "Never mind. Forget what I just said."

I stared at him as I finished my last bite of that insanely good burger. I hadn't stopped eating it throughout the entire conversation we had that I was actually willing to have. "What do you mean?"

"Forget what I just said." He finished his last bite as well, threw his garbage into the nearby trash can, and then stood up. "It's just..." He hesitated as I stood up as well and did the same thing, then walking after him as he started to go back through the festival. "Never mind."

Okay, now I was getting pissed. "What the hell is _wrong _with you?" I practically hollered, since it was starting to get really loud even though we were in an open, outdoor area. "You can't just say something and then say," I imitate him. "'Oh, never _mind._'"

Carson looked a little hurt before offering me a smile. Only this time, it looked kind of fake. "It's just..." He sighed, running a hand through his mop of blond hair on the top of his head. "I'm sorry. It was just something that happened in town that affected me, a lot, which is why I sometimes do what I just did." He looked at me, really looked at me, making me stop in my tracks. "I...promise I'll tell you eventually. But right now...I just can't." He bit his lip. "You understand, don't you?"

I blinked, looking away and feeling shame, because I _did _understand. I was being such a hypocrite, nearly forcing him to tell me something he clearly didn't want to tell me, yet, I couldn't tell people about what I had been through, either. "Yeah," I muttered, almost feeling embarrassed. Almost. I wasn't about to turn red in front of him an give him the wrong impression. "I do."

He started to smile again, really smile, and I surprised myself by kind of smiling back, even though, with my hands shoved in the pockets of my sweatshirt like usual, it probably didn't seem very genuine. "So, um..." He coughed. "You...want to go find Lani and force her to come home?"

I nodded, quickly. "Yeah, sounds good." I turned around, holding my hand over my eyes and squinting through the crowd. "Do you think she and that dude are-"

I was interrupted by sounds of sobbing coming from behind me. Startled, I turned around again to see Lani, hysterically crying and seeming to try to explain something to Carson, but constantly failing since she kept gasping into sobs. My eyes widened. "Oh my God." I walked over to her. Since I didn't really know what to do, I just kind of awkwardly stood there. "What happened?"

This only made her wail, covering her eyes with her hands. Carson looked more than a little stunned. Clearly, this was not normal behavior for Lani, making a scene like this out in public. "Um..." he began, looking ill at ease. "Look, Lani, we really should-"

"I-It's Adam," she finally squeaked. "H-He-"

"He broke up with you?" I wondered, shaking my head. "That idiot."

This only made her cry harder, and Carson gave me a weary glance. "Way to go," he said sarcastically.

I folded my arms. "Hey. How was I supposed to know that wasn't the right thing to say? I got it right, didn't I? I've never had a 'significant other', so to speak, so I don't know this stuff. Have you?"

He said nothing to me in reply. "Here, Lane," he said to his friend, who was now taking in deep shuddery breaths. "Get on my back. I'll carry you to the car."

As Carson walked in front of me, an emotionally exhausted Lani on his back, I thought, while frowning, about how he had ignored any question I had that had to do with his past. Maybe he was like me and had an emotionally scarring past few years.

But no. There was no way. He was too cheerful of a person most of the time, and there were only a couple of times I had known him where he wasn't.

Maybe...some kind of incident happened that everyone knew about but me. Well, if that was the case, it looked like I would eventually find out about it, too. But before that would happen, I had to wonder what exactly that event was.

What _could _it possibly be?

* * *

**Hmm...so what is Carson hiding? Why is he always so paranoid and secretive? And...what's with Savannah's mom being so secretive, as well? Any ideas?**


	8. A Prank Back'flour'ed

_The sixteen-year old girl grudgingly walks down to the breakfast table, where she simply sits down next to her mother and across from her father, like she does every morning. Very rarely will she eat breakfast, because she is always too concentrated on her surroundings to focus on eating._

_Her father is avoiding both her and her mother's gazes. While his wife is still not aware of how he has been treating their daughter, it is obvious that she suspects something is going on. It is like this every day, and neither of the other people sitting at that table will give her an answer as to what that suspicious something is._

_The mother clears her throat. "So," she says somewhat loudly even though the room they are in is enclosed. The silence that is in the room is almost frightening. "Do either of you want to tell me what you did last night?"_

_"It was fine," the father's gruff, somewhat raspy voice informs her. He sips his coffee, still not looking at her._

_"You didn't answer my question-"_

_"It _was _fine," the girl echoes. She refuses to look at either parent, since one knows that she's lying while the other is just clueless as to what is going on. _

_The last thing she wants is for both of these separate worlds to collide. Little does she know that they someday will-and in the worst way possible._

* * *

The next morning was what could be considered a rare one for the Reid household: They were actually sitting down for breakfast at the table.

Since the restaurant opened a few hours later on Wednesdays, they always took this opportunity to sit down and eat, to catch up on what was going on with their lives, etcetera. This and Sunday, the day the restaurant was closed, was basically the only free time they had not counting the nighttimes.

"Where's Lani?" Cass was wondering as Mel and I came down the stairs, me in my sweatpants I used for the night and her in her fluffy blue bathrobe. I noticed that Cass was making pancakes. Sheesh, I couldn't remember the last time I had pancakes that weren't microwaveable.

Mel and I glanced at each other with uncertainty. "S-She was j-just up," she told her mother, sitting down at their rectangular table that they had in the dining room that was attached to the kitchen. Reed was already there, and, surprise surprise, he was on his cell phone. It sounded like he was playing some sort of video game. No surprise there, either. Cheyenne was there as well, just looking bored. "S-So she'll be d-down in a m-minute."

Cass nodded, turning back to the grill, examining a few of the pancakes, and then flipping them. At that moment, a girl with very messy blond hair that had been pulled up into a very messy bun that had gotten ruined over the night came into the kitchen. She was blinking repeatedly, eyes red.

Her mother noticed her, and her eyes softened. We had told her about the whole breakup incident and how upset she was about it. Frankly, I was shocked that she even came down, seeing as she cried pretty much the entire night. In all honesty, I thought she was being stupid, not that I would say that to her face. "Good morning, sweetie," she said to her daughter, giving her a hug and speaking to her like she was in kindergarten and was missing her first day of school because she was sick. "Are you hungry?"

Lani shook her head no, very..._very_ slowly. Reed glanced up for half a second at his sister, grimaced at her appearance, and then went back to his game. Cheyenne just looked amused, while Mel was clearly concerned.

"Are you sure?" she asked her. She had released her at this point, and now, Lani looked like she had just risen from the dead, just standing there in the middle of the floor. It would have been funny if not given the circumstances.

"Yes," she finally croaked. She cleared her throat, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Mom, it's just that..." Her face started to crumble up again, and she sniffled, clearly trying to fight it off. "You know what happened with me and Adam last night..." She trailed off.

"He broke up with you?" Cheyenne wondered, and Lani blinked at her. It was obvious that she was struggling not to cry again. Cheyenne, meanwhile, was chuckling. "Gee, no wonder I thought I heard donkey sounds last night. It was you. Guess I should have known."

Mel turned to glare at her as Lani started sobbing again. As much as I hated to admit it...she _did _sound like a donkey when she cried. Cass glared at her second-youngest as she held her oldest daughter tightly in her arms. "Cheyenne Reid," she scolded as Lani fanned herself to try to keep from crying again. "Was that _absolutely _necessary?"

Cheyenne shrugged, though a wave of regret passed across her face. "Well, I was just-"

"Don't talk about it." Cass glanced over at the pancakes, then flipping them over once again. She put each one (there were about twenty, some that had been made earlier) on a plate, and I got up to put them on the table. I figured it was the least I could do, since I wasn't a real part of this mess. "Lani, sweetie, you can take the day off today, okay? To recover." Her tone then dropped to a whisper, though I could still hear it since I was right there. "And I promise, it will get better. It seems like the worst thing in the world right now, but it _won't _be come the next few months. Do you understand?"

This was why I was never getting into any of this relationship crap. Too much drama.

Lani, meanwhile, seemed doubtful of this, but she nodded, whispering a thank you to her mother before trudging up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Mel and now me.

Cass turned to the rest of us after being sure she was gone. "Nobody say a word about this to anyone else, got it?" she instructed us. "Lani will tell who she wants when she's ready, but that's not her priority right now. We'll tell everyone she's taking a personal day today, and that's that. Is everyone here clear on that?"

We all nodded, including Reed, who was slipping his phone back into his pocket. Even he knew to listen to his mother at the right times. Cass seemed satisfied with this, so we all took that as our cue to start eating.

By the way...eat a homemade pancake when possible. They're pretty damn good.

* * *

"Have you guys ever pulled a prank before?"

Carson, Mel, Wes, and I glanced up from what we were doing, which right now, was just sitting around and drinking bottles of water since it was our lunch break (the restaurant had actually just opened, so this was okay), to see Mitch grinning at us. "Harmless ones," Carson answered, eating a piece of leftover chicken that a kid had left on his plate the day before. Technically, we weren't allowed to eat people's leftovers, but Carson didn't care.

Mitch chuckled. "Well then, listen to the master at work." He got up, glanced outside the door to make sure none of the ditzy hostesses or any of the waiters were listening, and then dropped his voice to a whisper. "So, you know how we have a bag of not-so-good flour?"

Mel was the only one who nodded, while the rest of us just looked at him strangely.

"Well, you do now. So, I figured, why not put this flour to good use?" He held up his pointer finger before turning around and opening the closet that held supplies and ingredients. He rummaged through a couple of things before dragging out...a fan. Our eyes widened.

"Dude, you're not gonna-" Wes began, but Mitch cut him off.

"Oh, but I am," his friend informed him, and Wes started to grin as well, slapping him on the shoulder in that stupid way guys do it.

"No way! Who are you gonna do it to?"

"Well, that's the trick." Mitch grinned. "Whoever turns on the fan first is the one that will get covered in flour."

Mel and Carson both looked uncertain about this. "Guys, I don't think that's a great idea," Carson informed them, biting his lip. Mel kept quiet. "What if it's Cass, or, oh God, _Cheyenne_, or-"

"Then we'll explain it to whoever gets floured." Mitch shrugged like this was no big deal. "No need to worry, dude. We've got this."

Carson shrugged. "All right. Fine. But _you're _getting all the blame for it. Don't put it on any of us."

"Like anyone would believe it was any of the three of you. No offense." Mitch picked up the bag of flour, beginning to pour it into the fan. "Don't worry; I've got this."

All of a sudden, we heard footsteps. "Guys?" Cass poked her head into the door. "Are you all okay in there?"

Mitch jumped up, nearly knocking the bag of flour onto the flour. "Um, yes, Cass," he said nervously, shoving the bag of flour back into the cupboard and shutting the door. I could see even from over here that he was able to put a lot in there in just a matter of seconds. Or maybe he had already put some in there earlier. "Yeah, all's well."

"Are you sure? Because it seems rather hot in here." She stepped in the room, fully dressed in her manager's uniform. Her platinum blond hair was down in waves. "Are you sure you don't want me to turn the fan on?"

Wes gave Mitch a look, and the latter nodded, though I could see that he was gulping. "Actually, um, yeah, that sounds great."

"Great." Cass gave them both a smile before walking the few feet to the fan. But, before she could turn it on, she stepped to the side. Carson elbowed me in the side, and it was all I had to keep myself from bursting out into laughter. Cass was smart. "Hope you'll feel nice and cool after this."

With that, she turned the fan on, making the flour rain all over both Wes and Mitch. Mel's mouth flew open, and she covered her mouth in shock as Carson lost it. He held his stomach as he leaned over, laughing his head off. I couldn't help but snicker, and at the yells of both Wes and Mitch, some of the other employees glanced into the doorway of the kitchen, and at the sight of it, they called everyone else over.

As they both stood there coughing, Cass crossed her arms. "You _really _thought I couldn't hear you from the manager's office?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "The walls here are paper thin, Mitchell, and you know it."

"Well...no," Mitch said sheepishly as he grabbed a nearby towel and rubbed his face, purposely ignoring everyone who was standing in the doorway. Cheyenne snapped a pic on her cell phone of him, and I couldn't help but notice that she winked at him. I wrinkled my nose, but didn't have time to think about it, as Wes was adding on to what Mitch said.

"It was _his _idea," he said. Unlike Mitch, he had been smart enough to move closer to the rest of us, so he wasn't covered with the stuff, but there was still some on his clothing that he was trying to shake off. "Don't put any of the blame on me."

"Oh, I know." She smiled. "Considering I heard everything." With that, Cass turned around. "Everyone back to work now, please, including those of you in the kitchen."

Everyone scurried back to their jobs, Carson now finally being able to stop laughing, but only because he was looking at me and not at Mitch. "Man, that was great," he said, holding on to the edges of the table and holding them tightly so he wouldn't nearly fall on the floor laughing again. "And I think it was the first time I ever really saw you smile."

"Lucky you, then," I told him. It was the first thing I had said all day.

He hesitated. "So...I was wondering," he began as a waiter who I think was named Aaron came in and gave Mel the first order of the day. She read it, and then instructed Wes to get started on tomato sauce and try not to get flour in it. He nodded, grabbing a tomato from the bowl they had and beginning to chop it up. They made everything here by scratch. "If...we would be considered friends now?"

I shrugged, pretending not to notice that Mitch was looking at us in surprise. "Sure, I guess." Ever since the previous night, I didn't mind Carson as much. He seemed like a good enough guy, so I figured, hey, why not? He was harmless.

Carson smiled. "Cool." He looked at Mel, then. "So, Mel, anything we can do here?"

As Mel gave him an instruction card she had written on how to make pizza dough, Mitch walked over to me. A towel covered in flour was now covering his shoulders, and to say he looked ridiculous would be an understatement. "So, um...you're good here? Like...you're comfortable here, and everything?"

While he was a bit of a dumbass, I knew he was only trying to be nice, even though what he asked me pretty much came out of nowhere. So I responded. "Yeah, I guess."

"But you still don't know about..." He hesitated, seeing the expression on my face. "I'm going to take that as a no."

"Does everybody know about this but me?" I muttered to him. Carson was beckoning me over, and I really didn't want him to hear the conversation Mitch and I were having.

"Yeah...it was a pretty major event in town." He exhaled. "But that's, um, not important right now. Just go make that pizza."

I didn't have time to respond before he left the kitchen, presumably to go to the bathroom, so, sighing, I went back over to Carson, who was patiently waiting for me. "So, what were you and Mitch talking about?" he wondered, grabbing some pre-made dough from a plastic container and beginning to roll it out.

"I wish I knew," I said as he rolled it into some flour he had thrown onto the table. I sighed, still not being able to help but wonder what secret everyone was keeping from me. "I wish I knew."

* * *

**You get the title of this chapter, right? Backfloured, backfired...okay, I'm lame. I know.**


	9. The Truth About the Program

_"Tell me again why we're doing this," the thirteen-year old girl grumbles to the other Fireside Girls as she stands with them in the middle of the local gym. They all surround a punching bag, and only three, Adyson, Katie, and Isabella, look happy about doing something with it. The other eight are all clearly worried._

_"Isabella...are you sure this is a good idea?" Holly wonders, biting her nails. Next to her, Aubrey is holding her favorite stuffed unicorn, squeezing it tightly, and on her other side is Gretchen, who keeps readjusting her glasses._

_"Relax," Isabella informs her friend, smiling at her for encouragement. "We've done many physical things before. All you have to do to these is punch them repeatedly. And it'll help us all get our Fighting Patches."_

_"It's not gonna ruin my manicure if I do it, right?" Lilly asks her. Lilly's high, somewhat nasally voice almost makes the girl want to listen to fingernails screeching a chalkboard instead. Or something else hitting something else..._

_The girl doesn't hear Isabella's response to this, since she is now focusing on hitting that punching bag and getting some of her bottled up emotions out. And, who knows? Maybe someday, she'll put these skills to good use._

* * *

"_God,_" Mitch complained several days later as he punched a hole in the center of some bread dough he had taken out, but the dough hadn't risen and then fallen slightly like it was supposed to. He glanced at the rest of us, annoyed expression written on his face, and exhaled. "Can any of you do this better than I can?"

I raised a hand before swiftly walking from one side of the long table in the room to the other side, beckoning him to move over. Within a matter of seconds, the dough was punched and had done what it was supposed to do.

"Damn," he complimented me, picking up the dough and beginning to roll it out to bring air into it. He nodded at me, and I couldn't help but smile a little bit, making him smile back. "Where'd you learn skills like _that_?"

I shrugged, going back to my usual spot on the table next to Carson. He was attempting to show me the differences between all of the spices used in sauces and stuff, and Mel would occasionally pop in and add something to what he had already said. And I wasn't doing a very terrible job with it, either. "I used to be a Fireside Girl. We did a lot in there."

Mitch whistled, and Mel looked up. Carson grinned at me. "You were a Fireside Girl?"

"I believe I just said that, dumbo." I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, and he raised one right back. I knew he knew I was kidding, but it was still funny.

"L-Lani, Cheye-enne, and I u-used to be, t-too," Mel said, offering me a shy smile. She had gotten a little more comfortable around me and was starting to talk a little more, too. It had almost been a week since I had gotten there, so it made sense. "It _was _f-fun."

"You enjoyed it a lot," Cass told her, walking into the kitchen. Very often, she would check in on us, and if it was busy like it was today, she would actually pitch in and help with the cooking. It wasn't like she had a ton to do as a manager, anyway, at least not during the actual times that the restaurant was open. "Your sisters, on the other hand, were a whole other story." She read one of the orders Cheyenne had come in with earlier, and she glanced at her daughter. "Now, back to this order. What's already being worked on for this pizza?"

Mel was about to answer, but then Mitch interrupted. "I've got the bread."

Cass closed her eyes in exasperation. "I'm talking about the _pizza_, Mitchell."

"Oh." He looked away, turning slightly red. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like to be seriously clueless all of the time. It couldn't have been fun. "Sorry."

"No problem." She sighed and looked at the rest of us, and she finally kept her gaze on me. "Savannah? You want to help me start with the crust?"

"Sure." I shrugged, going over to the end of the table that she was at as Carson put all of the spices back where they belonged on this special shelf.

"All right, and this person wants anchovies, tomatoes, and green peppers on theirs. Wes, chop up a pepper and a tomato, please, more than one for each if it doesn't cover the pizza."

"Got it." He nodded, grabbing one of each out of the little bowls Mel had left out. She was quite the organizer; if one thing was out of place, she would freak out.

Cass looked over at Mel. "You got the sauce?"

"Y-Yep."

"And Carson, if you wouldn't mind, please go get about...a quarter of a cup of anchovies from the container in the fridge. They ordered an extra large, so we'll need some more than usual."

As he went to do that, his nose wrinkling slightly, she turned back to me. I had already gotten the pre-made dough from where it was kept, so her face brightened up. "Nice," she said, nodding. After putting a set of gloves on her hands, since she always liked to keep everything as clean as possible, she got out a rolling pin and started to roll out the dough as I watched her. "So, how's everything going, here?" she asked me. "Comfortable with the system and all that, yet?"

"I'd say so," I informed her. I then remembered one thing I hadn't been happy about...the fact that my mom had been lying to me, and I wasn't exactly even clear on what she was lying about. I hadn't been able to talk to Cass in a while, so this was my chance to say something about that. "But, um...I _do _have a question for you."

Cass looked at me curiously, still rolling out the dough. "Sure, Savannah. Go right ahead."

I hesitated. Would she even have an answer for what I was going to ask? "Um...why did my mother say that you forgot to say that you had a restaurant? And why did she also say that you forgot to add a daughter?"

Her eyes widened slightly, and she slowly turned her head towards me. Very..._very _slowly. She stopped rolling the pizza out, just holding the pin in one position on the table. "Savannah," she said quietly, looking around to be sure no one else appeared to be listening. They weren't. "What in God's name are you _talking _about?"

"The form," I said as quietly as she was. "The one you had to fill out for this so-called 'exchange' program?"

She looked at me like I had suddenly transformed into something deadly. Her face was pale white. "Oh dear," she muttered. She released her hands from the pin, and it rolled a few inches across the table before stopping again. "Oh dear."

"What do you mean, 'Oh dear'?"

"I-I mean...I _do _remember filling out the form..." She chuckled nervously. "But, um...it looks like Allison forgot to copy some of the things I...told her. Weird, huh?"

She was lying to my face. I could tell just from the way she talked. My _God_, was I cursed? Why was _every person _on this _goddamn _planet keeping secrets from me? It wasn't like I wrote articles for the school website back in Danville, which may as well have been called the Danville High Gossip Column, because that's pretty much what it was. No. Unlike some people, I knew how to keep secrets. "Cass," I said in as intense of a tone as I could without sounding mean, and she bit her lip, refusing to look at me. "Tell me the truth. _Did_ you write a form or _not_?"

Cass exhaled. She picked up the rolling pin again, beginning to thin out the sides. "You are a smart one, miss," she whispered, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her eyes. "You caught your mother and I blatantly lying to you." She looked like she was about to cry. "And I am _so _sorry."

My head was starting to spin. I had to hold onto the table to keep from fainting. Did this mean...that the program wasn't real at all? Did my mother just want to get rid of me for an entire summer? Oh, God...what if she and...I couldn't even call him that...were _doing _stuff, and she just sent me away so that I wouldn't know? She didn't seem that upset when she told me he was coming back from whatever Asian country he had lived in after abandoning us, after all.

I held my stomach. I felt like I was going to vomit, and anytime soon.

"I truthfully don't know why she sent you over here, though," Cass said quietly, wiping at the corner of one of her eyes. "She just asked me if I could keep you here for the summer, and I said yes, not knowing exactly why. We were friends back in college, you see, and while we've kept in tentative contact...we haven't seen each other since. So the information she gave you was only the information she's known from the tiny talks we used to have."

"So that's why she didn't know about the restaurant...since it was recent," I managed to say.

"Exactly." She nodded. "We actually haven't truly had a conversation that lasted more than five minutes for...possibly a dozen years." When my mouth gaped, she shrugged. "We just didn't have that much in common anymore. This is also why she didn't really know about Lani."

I gave her a strange look. Wasn't Lani the second oldest?

"I adopted Lani as a child," she explained to me, and I looked at her in surprise. So _that _was why Lani didn't really look like all of the other kids in the family. "She actually lived with us when she was my foster child, and I ended up adopting her since she was an orphan as a child..." She blinked repeatedly. "...and pretty much had nowhere else to go."

"But I remember Mom mentioning that another person would be part of this exchange program, where that child would go live in Danville while I came here." I shook my head, still in disbelief. The sick feeling had passed, but I was still upset. "Clearly, that wasn't true."

"Clearly not. I knew nothing of that sort." She shrugged. "And I don't know why she would say something like that, either. As much as I hate to sound heartless about my own kid...I don't know how she would even know that Lani existed."

I took a deep breath. All of this was a lot to take in at once. "Listen, Cass...I hate to ask you this, but-"

"You most certainly can take the rest of the day off." When I stared at her, she held up a hand. "Don't mention it. This is a lot for you, and besides, you've been good here all week, and I have plenty of other helpful, hardworking people here."

"Yo, dude," we heard someone say, and we both turned to see Mitch, empty paper bag on his head. He was talking to Wes, who was giving him a strange expression. "Check this out. Do you think I can put bread in the oven with this cool hat I found on my head?"

Cass cleared her throat. "Well..._most _of the people here are helpful and hardworking. But seriously, go back to the house." She hesitated as I took my ponytail out and my apron off. "If you wouldn't mind...could you possibly dust the living room while you're over there?"

* * *

"Mom, we need to talk. Again," I said angrily to my mother on my cell phone as I lifted up some picture frames to sweep the little featherduster over the bookshelves in the living room.

She sighed. "Savannah, can we do this later? I'm really ti-"

"No, we absolutely cannot. And, by the way, you're not tired. You don't have an effing _job_ to be tired!"

There was silence on the other end for a minute before she responded. Her voice was tight. "Don't swear when you're around me."

This was bullshit, because she heard me swearing all the time and didn't give a single piece of crap over it. Plus, she completely ignored everything I just said. "God Mom, _listen _to me. I know your little 'scheme' that you planned. And don't deny anything that I say, because Cass herself admitted that she never filled out one of your forms. Oh, did I forget to mention that what you told me is about a _dozen years _inaccurate?"

She sighed, yet again. It seemed like the only thing she knew how to do nowadays. "Savannah, you're being insane. Cass and I talk all the time. I know she has three kids, and-"

"Four, Mom." I ran a hand over my forehead. "She has _four _effing kids. You weren't aware that she adopted one quite a long time ago, weren't you?" She tried to speak, but I cut her off. "You just said there was an extra one so I supposedly wouldn't be suspicious about this so-called program of yours that I _know _can't possibly exist considering all of the circumstances."

"You're smart, Savannah," she muttered. "Just like your father..."

"Do _not _mention my father." My voice started to grow wobbly. What was _wrong _with her? "Just tell me that you made the goddamn program up."

"All right, Jesus," she groaned. She was now starting to sound exasperated. "I did. I made the goddamn program up. Now will you stop nagging me about all of this? I have to get back to work-"

"_Mom!_" I screamed, dropping the featherduster out of rage. "You. Don't. _Work! _You _just _said that you didn't! Stop lying to me." I realized that I was now crying, but I didn't care. She deserved to hear it. "Stop lying to me. What _else _are you lying about? Tell me." I swallowed. "Please."

"Nothing. And I was _not_ lying to you. I overexaggerated the...oh, for God's sake, never mind. You wouldn't understand, anyway. Don't call me again, do you understand? I have better things to do than to talk to you, miss, considering you only speak of things that don't exist or never happened." I heard the _beep_ of the phone turning off, and just like that, I was alone.

I took a deep breath, lump in my throat growing bigger as I crouched down to the floor. I was in too stunned of a state to yell or do anything related to speaking, so all I did for the next several hours was sit there by those bookshelves and cry.

I had never felt so lonely in my life. What I needed was a friend...a friend that would always be there for me, not just when I needed them, but to stay on me like a permanent marker. Someone who would listen to me and not try to contradict with their own opinion. Someone who wouldn't shoot my ideas down or make me feel stupid. Someone I could laugh and have the kind of fun I liked with. Someone...who I could love. Not necessarily romantically, but just for the fact that they would exist.

But, as far as I could tell...those kinds of friends hadn't existed. And from all that I had gathered throughout my life, they never would.


	10. An Unexpected and Unknown Match

_The twelve-year old girl watches as Isabella sighs happily. All of the girls are currently behind Phineas and Ferb's fence, and only their eyes are visible over the fence. They are about to go in and help them with whatever crazy contraption they are making for the day, but before they do that, they all just simply look at them upon Isabella's request. "Oh, Phineas," Isabella says in a dreamy tone. "Someday, you'll be mine. I'm sure of it."_

_A majority of the girls haven't reached the stage of crushing on those of the opposite gender (or of their own gender, for a couple of them), so they are uncomfortable whenever Isabella speaks of her crush on the inventor. The girl is one of these people. Her best friend Ginger, on the other hand, is not, and she is looking at Baljeet and doing the same things Isabella is. The girl finds this unbelievably stupid._

_The only girl besides Isabella who is not in uniform, since she is not a Fireside Girl, is Emily, and she is biting her lip. "Can we just go in now, please?" she wonders. She glances at Ferb, her childhood best friend, and turns the slightest bit pink before standing up. She hasn't told anyone of her newfound little crush on him, but everyone can tell. Except for the boys, that is._

_Isabella snaps out of her trance. "Oh, um, yeah, sure," she says, standing up and smoothing out her skirt. She beckons everyone else to stand up as well, and they oblige. "Hey Phineas," is what she says next as she opens the door leading to the backyard. "What'cha doin'?"_

* * *

It had been several days since I had had that terrible phone call with my mother, and just as she had asked, I didn't call her. Why would I? She clearly didn't want me around for some unknown reason, and I wasn't about to try and find out why. The last thing I wanted was to feel as hurt as I had when she had said what she had said to me.

I hadn't told anybody about this phone call, and I didn't have any plans to, either. I think only Carson could tell that I was upset, but I didn't trust him enough yet to be able to tell him anything about who I was. It was obviously the same vice versa, so I wasn't going to harp upon the fact that he wouldn't tell me his secrets, either.

I glanced around the kitchen I was in. It was Tuesday evening, and everyone was beginning to look restless, just like they did on any night that we had to work late. Except for Carson, of course. He was always alert and ready to do whatever someone asked him to. But besides him, we were all tired and ready to go home.

"Yo, Cass," Mitch yawned to his boss, who was watching us at the entrance of the doorway, stepped back a few inches so that any waitresses or waiters could still get in. "What time is it?"

"First off, never say 'Yo' to me." Cass glanced down at the cell phone she had pulled out of her pocket before sticking it back in there. "Second, it's seven-fifty. We'll close in ten minutes, Mitchell. You'll survive."

He rested his elbows on the table in front of him before resting his head on the table. Next to him, Wes punched him lightly on the back, and he stood up, pretending to be fully alert.

"Thank you, Weston." Cass nodded before putting her attention onto me, Carson, and Mel. I would say Reed, too, but he was pretending to clean the outside of the oven when in reality, he had his phone inside of his apron and was playing on it. So I won't count him. "So, how were all of the orders today? Did everything run smoothly enough?"

"Good enough," Carson informed her. He glanced at Mel. "I mean, Mel forgot to put soy cheese on one of the pizzas...again-"

"I d-did _not _forget," Mel said fiercely. She glared at Reed at the other side of the room, who squirmed a little, clearly annoyed on being called out like that. "S-S-_Somebody _thought it would be f-funny if all of the c-cheeses were mixed up, so the w-wrong labels were on each k-kind of c-cheese."

Cass rolled her eyes in exasperation. She looked to the point of losing it, not that I blamed her at all. "Reed, for God's sake."

"I don't get what the big deal is," Reed muttered, trying to avoid the stare of his mother, but not succeeding very well. He rubbed the outside of the oven with the baby wipe more agressively, as if the spot he was cleaning could possibly be any more antibacterial. "Stutterpuss should know the difference between the cheeses, anyway. Isn't that her job in the first place?" At his nickname for her, Mel flushed red.

His mother exhaled. "Don't accuse your sister of anything, because this was all you. It's a big _deal, _Reed, because this involves other people, now. Here at the restaurant, we are trying to prove that we are serious about what we are doing. And if crap like this keeps coming from you... as well as other people," Mitch bit his lip at this, and Wes patted his shoulder somewhat awkwardly. "Then it looks as if we have a whole different perspective on our view of owning a business like this one. So quit acting like a child and _start to actually work and act your age. _I don't think that's asking for too much." With that, she stepped out of the room. I glanced up at the clock hung over the stove. Five minutes left until closing time.

Reed, however, didn't care about that, as he stood up rather angrily, throwing his apron he had to wear onto the floor, and then stomping out of the room. Even from here, we could all hear the door to the restaurant slam shut as he headed back home.

"Jesus, he's such a baby," Cheyenne said as she stepped in with Lani, disgusted look on her face. Lani said nothing as her sister looked wearily at Mel, who was biting her lip down hard. "You okay, Mel? He was pretty harsh to you, there."

Mel kept quiet, and instead of responding, she simply walked out of the back doorway that was normally used to pick up deliveries, silently shutting the door behind her. Everyone looked at each other, not seeming to know what to do. Carson was the one who broke the silence. "So, um..." he began. "Anyone want to come to the arts festival with me tonight?"

Lani's bottom lip started to wobble, and he suddenly realized his mistake. But before he could respond, Cheyenne interjected by groaning. "Lani, for Christ's sake," she snapped. "Adam broke up with you an effing week ago. Just go to the festival and have some fun. You've been moping around all week over a guy who was an asshole to you."

All of this was true, by the way.

The blond gulped. "But...I don't..."

"You don't have to go, Lani," Carson gently informed her, and she gave him a small smile before walking out silently. Cheyenne frowned, but said nothing else to add on to it. He then turned to me. I noticed that his eyes still looked bright even though it was darker in the room. "What about you, Savannah? We could always just get another burger from the food truck, if you want."

He winked, and I couldn't help but smile. He had somehow gotten a lot less annoying over the past couple of days. Yet, I couldn't figure out how or why. He was behaving exactly the same as when I had first met him, after all. "Thanks, but no thanks," I said, yawning. "I'm pretty tired."

He put on a fake sad face, and I snickered, making him grin. "Fair enough." He looked at Cheyenne, Mitch, and Wes, who were all standing close to one another, the first two expecially. Weird... "Any of you?"

"I'll go," Wes informed him, slipping his apron off. He looked up at the clock, and then smiled. "Sweet. It's eight."

"Perfect." Cheyenne untied the little belt she wore around her waist that held her notepad and any tips she received while waiting on people during the day, sticking it inside of the cupboard where she kept that kind of stuff. "Because the reason I came in here was to organize the pantry."

"Why?" Mitch asked her, strange expression on his face. However, there seemed to be a look of amusement behind it, too.

"Because it's messy, and it drives me crazy." She looked at him. "Why? You want to help?"

Was it just me, or did she wink at him? And...did he just wink back? "Sure. I mean...if it doesn't bother you."

"No, not at all."

I was back to being in only my usual clothes at this point, minus the sweatshirt, so I picked that up and walked out of there, no words being said. Wes and Carson did the same, except for the fact they were still just chatting with each other. It wasn't long before they had already left the restaurant, driving away in Carson's car that I couldn't be assed to learn the brand of.

I had decided to use the restroom after everyone else had left, since I figured it only made sense. But when I came out, it...was quiet. Too quiet. I then heard whispers, and stepped closer to the doorway of the kitchen to hear better, closing the door to the restroom as quietly as possible.

"You think everybody's gone?" I heard Cheyenne whisper. She was standing literally three inches away from me on the other side of the door. Wait...this meant that the door was shut, which struck me as odd. It was never completely closed.

I took a peek though the window attached to the door, and nearly doubled back before staring in shock at what I saw. It was Cheyenne, obviously, but she was standing..._really _close to Mitch. And she was...smiling? Within the entire week I had been here, I had never seen her genuinely smile, and especially not at someone like Mitch.

"I think so," Mitch whispered back. I made sure to duck my head before he could peek out the window, and moved myself over to the wall, sliding myself down until my butt hit the floor. "Nice cover up about the pantry, babe."

...Babe? I covered my mouth, stunned, and brought my knees closer to my chest.

She giggled. _Giggled? _Was this a whole new person I was hearing? "Why, thank you," she said in a rather teasing tone.

"By the way, I just wanted to say something." He made his tone even lower, and I had to stop myself from blushing. He sounded...like one of those old, sophisticated movie stars. Yeah. Mitch. This was all too weird. I had to have passed out, and this was some weird dream I would be waking up from. "I didn't like the way you called me a goddamn idiot last week, miss."

"Well, you _were _being one. Making a joke like that? Not funny." She snorted. Now _that _sounded like the Cheyenne I knew. "But that doesn't matter. Besides, the reason I did it was so people would think we didn't like each other. And what matters here is that we have to keep keeping this a secret, since you know my mom hates when employees date each other."

"I know, babe, I know. I haven't slipped up to anyone yet. Not even Carson or Wes." His voice tightened. "Especially not Carson..."

Okay. This wasn't a dream. This was real life. If I were my ex-friend Ginger Hirano, I would have listened for more, possibly trying to find more details so I could go around and tell everyone about the secret that was being kept. Plus, I would have found joy out of doing it.

But, because I _wasn't _Ginger Hirano (thank God), I did not find joy in any of this. I scrambled up to get off of the floor, brushing myself off to do so, and then went to exit out of the front door. Walking as quietly as I could, I pushed open the doors, and without knowing if they heard me or not, I ran out as quickly as I could.

I still couldn't believe that Cheyenne and Mitch were dating...of all people, I would have thought those two were the last people that would _ever _get together. But then again, I was pretty clueless about romance in general.

Sighing from the insanity of it all, I began to walk back to the house.

* * *

**Looks like yet another unexpected thing came up during Savannah's time there. What **_**else **_**could anyone possibly be hiding...hmm.**

**By the way, since I **_**really **_**want to finish this story by the time school starts for me, which is at the end of August, I'm going to be updating this story rather quickly at times, usually every other day, except at the beginning of next month, when I'll be on vacation for several days. I just wanted to let you know that.**


	11. Someone Else Likes Someone Else

_"I have a _great _idea," a fifteen-year old Ginger proclaims to her three best friends. They are all currently at her house for a sleepover, and it's nearly two in the morning. The girl doesn't know how she managed to convince her father to let her come to this without him...doing anything to her in the process. Really, the only reason she came to this was to get away from her house in the first place, and he is highly against that. So Ginger, meanwhile, is grinning, and continues as next to her, Milly snores silently. She isn't very good at staying up late. "We should tell each other who we like while those two act like losers and go to sleep." _

_The girl is pretending to be asleep so that she doesn't have to be involved in anything. However, her eyes are halfway open so that she can still see what's going on._

_Katie rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "Come on, Ginger. You know that you just want to talk about Baljeet."_

_"No, you would get bored, and then fall asleep, and then I would be all alone." Ginger studies Katie. "I have to wonder who _you _like. You never mention it."_

_"I don't like anyone," Katie insists. The girl notices, however, that she is turning a little pink._

_"Please. Is it someone in our group? I bet it is. Is it Django? Or, oh God, I know...Irving? You always act kind of weird around him-"_

_"I act weird around guys in general." The blond sounds uncomfortable. "Seriously Ginger, it's nothing."_

_The girl, deciding that she doesn't want to hear any more of this who-likes-who/ relationship crap, rolls over, falling asleep almost right away._

* * *

"Lani, omi_god_," a hostess with black hair and too much eyeliner by the name of Avery whined over by the hostesses' podium. "You should _so _be over him by now." She looked at the other two hostesses, one a brunette, an insanely pretty but plastic looking girl named Mila and the other a redhead named Harper who had glasses but could actually sort of pull them off. "Aren't I right, Mila?"

"Totally right, Avery," Mila agreed. She looked at Harper. "Don't you think so, Harper?"

"Oh my God, _definitely_, Mila," Harper said, nodding up and down so many times that she reminded me of a bobblehead.

Literally _every single _conversation they had would go like this. It clearly drove Lani crazy, but since she was too nice, she was never going to say anything. So we all had to suffer through it, everyone in the restaurant. Even Carson was obviously annoyed by them, because whenever one of them tried to talk to him, he wasn't exactly his friendliest. They were just _that _annoying.

Lani sighed, clearly trying not to lose her patience. "We were just together for a long time, that's all. He broke up with me last Tuesday, and now it's Friday of this week. You can't just expect me to get over him like _that." _She snapped her fingers in the air.

"Oh, but you totally can," Avery told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She flipped her hair, almost hitting poor Lani in the face, and glanced at the other two idiots. "Can't she, Mila?"

"Uh, _yeah_." Mila looked at Harper. "Like, totally, right, Harper?"

"Like, yeah," the redhead proclaimed, nodding excitedly again.

If I could shoot myself in the head at that moment, it would be a better feeling that I would have still listening to them all talk. By the looks of almost everyone's faces around me, they all felt the same way. Wes, who for some reason had a disappointed look on his face instead, looked at Cheyenne, who had come in to pick up a takeout order. "Tell us why your mom hired those dimwits in the first place," he said flatly, picking up the pizza box that had been ordered and handing it to Cheyenne.

She took it, rolling her eyes. I couldn't look at either her or Mitch after I learned they were a couple. It just seemed...so _weird. _So I was staring down at the table in front of me so I wouldn't crack and spill the secret. Last thing that was going to happen was me becoming Ginger 2.0. "No one else applied for the positions when we offered them a few months ago," she explained irritably to Wes. "And, unfortunately, because of that, Mom can't fire them." With that, she left the room, but not before sneaking a glance at Mitch, who shot her a tiny, mostly unnoticeable smile.

Carson sighed, doing what the rest of us were, trying to ignore the catiness going on outside. "Well, I guess we might as well get to work on an order, right?" he said, attempting to sound optimistic.

"D-Definitely," Mel agreed, taking one of the orders and examining it. "C-Carson, get started on m-making some c-cheese ravioli. Remember to u-use ricotta, not c-cheddar."

"Got it." He nodded, walking over to the pantry to get the necessary ingredients.

"Savannah, you r-remember the s-spices for the s-sauces, right?" When I replied with a yes, she placed a finger on her chin. "Then g-go help W-Wes with that. M-Mitch, you'll make the b-bread, and I'll g-get started on an-nother order."

What she said easily took about two minutes to say, and it was obvious that Mitch was getting annoyed with everything she was saying. No one else did anything that implied they felt the same way, but as always, whenever Mel talked, there was an uneasy atmosphere in the room.

I honestly felt bad for her. She really couldn't help that stutter of hers, but I wasn't sure if she realized just how bad it was, how...out there it was. And it made me uncomfortable to think about it. But I couldn't focus on that at that moment, because Wes and I had a sauce to make.

I glanced over at him, as I had walked over to his place at the table earlier, and realized that he hadn't been chopping up tomatoes like he was supposed to. Instead, he was watching the scene outside, the three girls babbling while Lani was the only one doing any hostess duties. And I also realized, with horror, that the knife he was holding was right above his hand, which was sitting on the table. "Dude," I practically yelled, yanking the knife out of his hand. In all honesty, that probably wasn't the best idea, either, but I wasn't thinking clearly. "Watch yourself."

He tore his gaze away from the scene and back down at the table, realizing the situation. "Oh." He cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. Thanks."

"No problem." I looked at him strangely. "Seriously man, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He said nothing more, just going back to doing what he was supposed to have started a few minutes before.

I hadn't gotten to know Wes the way I had gotten to know Carson or even Mitch, mainly just because he was more quiet, more reserved. He also clearly didn't like to draw a whole lot of attention on himself, just kind of being there and saying things when he had to. "Well, okay then." I shrugged. I wasn't going to get into his business if he didn't want me to. "So, what kind of spice do you think I should-"

"It's Lani, okay?" he interrupted, and I looked up at him, surprised. I wasn't the only one who did this; all three of the others glanced over, as well.

"What about Lani?" Mitch wondered, halting his rolling of the bread dough he was making. He now seemed interested, as did Mel, who was standing next to him.

Wes closed his eyes, clearly annoyed that he was now in the spotlight. "Dammit," he muttered, placing the knife down on the cutting tray with the tomato only half cut. "Never mind."

"No, no, now you have to tell us." Carson was grinning as he said this, his arms crossed, but in a friendly manner. The cheese and pasta shells were sitting in front of him. "You can't just say something and then leave all of us hanging."

Wes sighed. He wasn't getting out of this one with all four of us there, and he knew it. We were all surrounding him, so there was no way for him to escape in any way. "I...uh...I don't know, I um..." He rolled his eyes and sighed again. "I don't know, I kinda like her, I guess. No big deal."

He said all of this quickly, and went to pick up the knife. I, however, didn't let him, grabbing his wrist and staring at him, as did everyone else. His eyes drifted away from mine, but that didn't stop me from saying anything. "You...like Lani?" I wasn't as shocked as I had been about Cheyenne and Mitch...but this was still pretty shocking. Wes hadn't given any indication about this before.

"Don't keep bringing it up," he warned me. His face was now turning red, and as I released his wrist, he picked up the knife again, finishing chopping up the tomato and moving on to another one in about five seconds. "Seriously, stop. Again, it's not a big deal."

We all glanced at each other, and Carson shook his head. "Dude, it _is _a big deal," he informed him. By the grin on his face, you would have thought he was a five year old fangirl talking about some pathetic boy band. "Nothing like this has ever happened here before. Sure, Lani and that douche just broke up, but hey, you might actually have a chance with her!" Carson exhaled. "Man, that's frickin' awesome. You guys would be _perfect _for each other, too!"

At this point, Wes was looking at Carson like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. "Okay...are you _sure _you're a nineteen-year old male? Because that was _not _what a nineteen-year old male says. Unless he's a stereotypical wacky, insane guy that the media always portrays, in which case, you are not."

Carson decided to not comment on the last part, loooking a bit offended, but nodded at everything else Wes said. "Look, I'm sorry, it's just..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. It was hot in here with the ovens and all, so we were always sweating up a storm. "I'm a good friend of Lani's, and, well, I'm a good friend of yours, too. I saw Lani get hurt so many times because of that guy, and although I don't like her like _that_, it still hurt to for me to see that."

Wes looked confused. "And your point is..."

"My point is that maybe after, oh, I don't know, another week or so, maybe you should make a move on her."

Wes' eyes widened, and he turned even more red. He shook his head repeatedly. "Uh uh. No. Hot happening, man." He finished his second tomato, and then glanced at me. "Savannah, can you get a pot for me to heat these tomatoes up, and Mel, if you wouldn't mind grabbing the premade base to put in there, too-"

"Quit trying to change the subject," Carson nearly snapped. "This is serious. I mean, who would have thought you would ever have a romantic life?" When Wes glared at him, he shrugged. "I'm just saying. You're not that kind of person. And, if this happened between you two, it would be the first romance to be in this place!"

I looked at Mitch, and, to my bewilderment, he bit his lip and beckoned me over, having seen me do this. I was sure Wes wouldn't notice if I did this, and plus, with his arguing with Carson, nobody would hear us, anyway. "Yeah?" I whispered.

"Look, I know that you know about...me and Cheyenne," he whispered back, making his tone even softer with the last three words. When I stared at him, stunned, he rolled his eyes. "Come on. You really thought I couldn't see you through the frickin' window? That thing's huge."

Well. Maybe he wasn't such a dumbass after all. "I'm sorry, but-"

"Nah, it's cool." Mitch shrugged in a carefree manner. "Just don't say anything about to...her, okay? Or else, she'll flip."

"Look, I'm fine just the way I am," Wes continued to inform Carson, pouring the sauce into the pot and turning up the heat.. "It's just a little crush. I'll get over it. And besides, I'm sure as hell Lani doesn't want a relationship right now."

Carson sighed, now looking exasperated. "Yeah, but-"

"I s-_swear _to G-God, am I the o_-only _one getting _anything _d-done here?" Mel yelled, and we all turned and stared at her, halting our conversations. Mitch snuck a glance at me and shot me a smile, and I nodded once back before we both turned our attention back onto the main cook. "S-Sooner or later, p-people are going to s-start complaining ab-bout how it's t-taking so damn _long _to make the f-food! So let's m-_move _it!"

"Don't worry, that's normal," Carson muttered to me. We were back to standing next to each other at the table, me handing him the spices he needed for his cheese ravioli that really should have been in a pot a while ago. Mel was right; we definitely had put our attention on things that we shouldn't have. "We'll get off topic, and then she'll yell at us. It drives Mitch crazy."

"Well, she has a point," I muttered back, handing him some parsley to sprinkle inside of it.

He did this, looking at me while doing so. "Oh, I know. Believe me. Mitch just doesn't understand what's right and what's wrong. And, well...neither do I, clearly, since she was pretty much yelling at me, too."

"Well, she had every right to do that," I inform him, smiling at him so he knew I was just messing with him. It was fun to do that...but weird, too, since I was always serious around everyone and never joked around. Carson was the only one I could do that with where it felt...right, somehow. I still didn't really understand it.

He glanced down and raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh really, now?"

I snickered. We went on like this for pretty much the rest of the day. It was weird to think how, just a week and a half ago, I couldn't stand to even hear his voice, and now, it was like a normal routine to always be around him. And I _liked _being around him. It made no sense, yet, it made total sense.

Weird.

* * *

**Next chapter's a pretty intense one...combined with a **_**ton **_**of explicit profantiy. So, brace yourselves for that, because there will be some language in it I haven't used before, as I've always been hesitant about using it. I always write for Phineas and Ferb, after all, and it just seems wrong. However, this time, I feel like it will be the right time to use it, since a vast majority of this story is made up of original characters and the situation will be right. You'll see.**

**So, I'll just say that the next chapter's rated M. Prepare yourselves for it, especially if you're not a fan of cussing, because there will be a **_**lot **_**of it. After that, the story will go back to being rated T.**


	12. Breakdown

_"So, oh my God, you are _never _going to believe this," Ginger squeals on the other end of the phone. The girl, now seventeen, has to hold it a few inches away from her ear so that she doesn't run a risk of going deaf. "Baljeet _finally _asked me out!"_

_"Good for you," the girl mutters. She is trying not to speak so loudly so that no one in the house she lives in will hear her on the phone. The last thing she wants is for her father to hear her, because she knows that the consequences will be...well, not so good if he does._

_Ginger sounds a bit hurt when she replies. "What's the matter? Aren't you happy for me?"_

_"Yeah, of course." The girl clears her throat. "It's just...I'm not really in the mood to talk right now, that's all."_

_In the past, the girl was able to tell Ginger pretty much anything. But now, with Ginger becoming the gossip queen of Danville High, always giving out secrets and never showing shame for doing so, she just can't do so anymore. Her best friend...just isn't the same best friend she was when the two were eleven. Too much has changed._

_Ginger huffs. "Well, fine, then. Guess I'll talk to you later, then. If you're in the _mood, _that is."_

_She hangs up, and the girl feels a pang of regret, but doesn't call back. She needs to protect herself more than she needs to call her friend and tell her that what she said wasn't exactly true._

* * *

"You think you have everything under control?" Cass asked Cheyenne as she was about to step out of the door with Mel. Mel had to go to the speech therapy place that she went to once a month, which was always on Wednesdays, and the appointment happened to be right before the restaurant closed.

Cheyenne rolled her eyes. "Mom, it's only open for another ten minutes, and no one's even here. Hell, you might as well just let everyone go home."

Cass thought about this for a few seconds, chewing the inside of her lip, before nodding slowly. "Well...alright..." She sighed, adjusting her bag that was over her shoulder. "I guess that wouldn't be too big of an issue."

The hostesses were all standing right at the entrance, and Avery's eyes lit up first, followed by Mila's, and then Harper's. Lani just simply walked into the kitchen, so it was assumed that she was just leaving. Or maybe she just wanted to get away from those idiots, not that any of us would blame her. "Oh em gee, that is _great_, since we're having that sleepover," Avery proclaimed, tossing her hair back like she always did. She glanced at Minion Number One, or, excuse me, Mila. "Isn't that great, Mila?"

"Oh, definitely, Avery," the brunette agreed. She looked at Minion Number Two, known by the moniker of Harper. "Don't you think so, Harper?"

"For sure," the redhead agreed, nodding the way she always did. I resisted the urge to get up and punch each one of them in the face, just gripping on to the sides of the bar I was sitting at instead.

Cass, who was obviously trying not to lose her patience, just simply nodded at Cheyenne before exiting the place, followed closely by Mel. The three hostesses all went through that same door, chatting the way they always did.

The restaurant was now completely silent. To put it simply...this was quite rare.

Cheyenne was the one that broke the silence, unfortunately. I hadn't heard quiet like that...well, since I left Danville. I suddenly winced at the thought of Danville, the thought of having to go back to my mom...I couldn't even think about how much tension there would be between us once I got back in about a month. "Can I have everyone's attention?" she called out.

Her voice, being so loud, wasn't so hard to hear, and before long, everyone who worked at the restaurant that was still there had appeared, Lani included, to my surprise. What surprised me even more was that Wes was standing right next to her. Looking uncomfortable, but he was still next to her. Good for him. "All right. So, since no one is here and I'm technically in charge, now, since my mom is out of here...you all can go home now. She said it was okay."

"But it doesn't close for another-" a waitress named Evelyn tried to speak, but Cheyenne cut her off.

"You're all going," she said, frowning at Evelyn, who looked offended, crossing her arms. "Each and every one of you is going, unless you want to help clean certain things around here."

Everyone glanced at each other, and just like that, as if we were a cartoon (or _were _we...), everyone except for Carson, Lani, Wes, Mitch, and I had gone in what seemed like an instant. Wes was the first to go after realizing that he was still next to Lani, and when Cheyenne walked off, Mitch went after her, the reason of which only I knew. So, it was just me, Lani, and Carson, all standing there somewhat uncomfortably. "I'm going to clean out the oven," Lani said suddenly and slowly. "I-I mean...I don't have anything better to do, so..." She stopped, just to clear her throat, and then hurried off into the kitchen, the pitter-patter sound of her sneakers appearing once they hit the wooden floors.

"Sounds good," Carson said, mostly to himself. He turned to me. "So, what are you..." He trailed off, seeing that I was now staring at my phone that had just buzzed in my pocket, horrified expression on my face. I looked up, and my hazel eyes met his brown ones. He could see the terrified look I was conveying even without looking at the rest of my face. "Savannah," he said slowly. He sounded concerned, concerned about me. "What's the matter?"

"It's my mom." I said right before gulping. "She wants me to call her."

He looked confused for half a second before dawning fell onto his face. "...Oh. But didn't you have that terrible conversation with her that one time?"

While I hadn't given him any details, I had told him about the argument I had had with her about a week before. He was the only one around here who I could trust with my very minor secrets. He didn't really have anyone to tell, after all, since everyone always acted so weird around him. "Yeah," I sighed, gripping the phone tighter in my hand. The spot right in the middle of my rib cage seemed to almost be aching. "So, um...if you wouldn't mind..." I gestured my head to the doorway leading to the kitchen, and, giving me an assuring smile, he walked in. He turned around, and our eyes locked for the second time. After a couple of seconds of just staring at each other, he broke the gaze, closing the door quickly and quietly.

Tearing my eyes away from the door as well, which took me a while for some odd reason, I took a deep breath, going over to the crappy claw machine and sitting down next to it, in the same spot that Carson had invited Lani and I to the arts festival the night that we became friends. I felt better sitting in this spot than anywhere else. It almost seemed like...I had support from something by being there rather than standing up in the middle of the floor. Like I was being comforted.

Taking another deep breath to attempt to calm my nerves down, I scrolled past my contacts (Katie had given all of our friends' and sort of friends' numbers to me when we were talking one night so I would have them), and saw my mom's full name that I had put in instead of just listing it as 'Mom'. The name? Allison Preston. Not Schumacher. Preston.

After the divorce from you-know-who had been granted, she had legally changed her name back to her maiden one. I had asked if I could do this as well, change it to her name, but the court had refused, seeing as he _was _technically still...who he was. Even though he had moved to Asia and clearly didn't want to partake in either of our lives, I still had to have his surname. And there was nothing I could do about it, at least until I got married, obviously. If that ever happened.

"Savannah?"

Jesus, I hadn't even realized that I had pressed her name. Trying not to sound as nervous as I was, I cleared my throat, also looking up at the ceiling. "Mom. Hi."

"Look, honey...I just wanted to say that I'm terribly sorry for...what I told you last time." She sounded sorrowful, but there was also a hint of...gosh, I couldn't think of the right word. Irritability, that was it. It sounded like she was being forced to apologize. "I was, um...intoxicated at the time-"

"You were drinking?" I couldn't keep the shock out of my tone. "When the hell did you start doing _that_? And why? And by the way, that's no excuse for what you said to me-"

"Long story." She cleared her throat, but that didn't seem to help, because her voice still sounded raspier than usual. It was almost scary, hearing my mother talk the way that she was. It was scary just to think that in the past...she was once a normal person. Since everything that had happened, she had been...you could say, not like herself. That was especially clear here. "But that's, um, not the real reason I called. I called...to tell you something."

That feeling in my rib cage returned yet again. I got the impression that what she was saying...was not good. "What?" I tried to stop shaking, but it wasn't working.

There was silence on the other end, at least, until she sighed her signature sigh. "Savannah...do you remember when I said that..._it _was coming back to Danville?"

That feeling again. I gulped. "Yes. Why? Are you okay?"

"I told him to come back."

I sat there, processing the words that she said, and once they hit me, they hit me full force. My eyes widened, and my breaths were beginning to come out uneven. What the hell was she talking about? She had seemed as upset as I was when she told me the news. "W..._What_?" My palm was facing up towards the ceiling, and I could feel my lips quivering.

"Because..." She paused. While my mother was still void of any emotion, there was still a ting of regret that was weaved into it. Compare her voice to a jar of jellybeans where only one is one certain color. That one certain color.. was the regret. "When we were talking...we weren't talking about financial stuff. You know how I said he sent us a lot of money so I could start a job?"

"Y-Yes." Oh, great. Now I was stuttering. But really, I was at the point where I was so scared by what she was going to tell me that I couldn't talk without feeling the urge to throw up. "T-That w-w-wasn't t-t-true, w-was it?"

She hesitated before replying. "No. No, it was not."

We both sat there, completely silent, and I decided to keep my eyes closed. Everything around me was beginning to spin and give me a headache.

"The truth is..." I braced myself. "When we were talking...we were talking about him coming back...so we would have a relationship again."

And just like that, the world stopped spinning. The world completely stopped functioning, in general. It was just me and my cell phone, talking to someone that was outside of the little universe of a bubble we lived in. I sat there, feeling myself slowly start to cripple up. "What?" I managed to croak to this alien that was speaking to me.

"That's why I sent you over to Cass'...so you wouldn't know. And as you can see...that's why I've been drinking. Because _he's _here." Now she was getting more quiet. "I'm sorry honey, but-"

"How could you?" I was shaking my head, refusing to believe anything that was just told to me. "You know how _it _treated me. He deserved to go...not to some far away land, but to _jail._ And now you're going _back _to him?" I realized that I was now getting close to crying, but I wasn't going to. Even though the lump in my throat was killing me. "How _could _you?" I repeated.

"Look...I know you're upset." _No, you don't, _I thought bitterly, but she continued. "He's changed, Savannah. Everything is going to be okay-"

"Fuck you."

She halted her words, and when I said those two words, those two words that no one, not even the ones back home who always cussed, like Lilly, Adyson, and Vienna, ever dared to say, I realized something. I wasn't just upset at this entire situation. I...was _angry_. Angrier than I had ever been. I was being betrayed, and not in the way that Ginger had betrayed me. I was being betrayed in a way that I thought was never even possible. The thing that had caused all of my grief, my depression, the bitter way I had looked at the world for the past eight or nine years...was coming back. "What...did you just say?" my mother whispered. She sounded stunned that I had even dared to go that far.

I knew I was doing something that could get me into so much trouble later, but I didn't care. At that moment, nothing mattered anymore except for defending myself. I stood up from my spot next to the claw machine. "Fuck you," I repeated. I was still shaking, still not believing that I was saying this to my own mother, and my words sounded shaky as well.

"Savannah Charlotte." Now _she _sounded angry, too. "How _dare _you-"

"Fuck you." I was now full-on sobbing, and I was struggling to still hold that phone and stand up. But I was doing it. I needed to show that I was a strong person who wouldn't let anything get in the way. So, I started to scream, and scream loudly. All while crying. "_Fuck _you, _fuck _your life, and _fuck _the disease-ridden void that you call my _fucking_ father!"

Oh, this felt good. I had held all of this in for far too long, and now that I was getting it out...I almost felt free. Almost. "Yeah, that's right," I said angrily, my voice rising. "You know, I've been feeling pretty shitty the past few years. So, I hope you're happy that you're making me feel even more _shitty_, _Mom_. You thought you were _so _clever, sending me away so that you can fuck that bastard without me knowing. I'm sure you feel _so _good about yourself now, _don't _you?"

She was silent. She had no argument against me. Meaning that all I had said was true.

"Hope you're having a fucking wonderful life with him. And I hope you don't mind if I never return. Do you? Say something if you mind."

She said nothing.

"Fine, then. I'm hanging up, and asking Cass if I can stay here forever." I brought the phone away from my ear, tears still streaming down my face, to see something that I hadn't, but should have, expected to see.

_Call ended two minutes ago._

"_WHAT?" _I roared. "Are you fucking _kidding me?_" With that, I threw the phone down on the ground, but with no force, as my muscles were now giving out from exhaustion. I fell down on the floor, not caring how dirty it could possibly be, and just sat there in a fetal position, sobbing more than I had ever before. I hated my mother. I hated her, I hated my father, and I hated my life. My life sucked, and it sucked _so _hard.

"Savannah."

I turned around, and right behind me, there was someone who was practically an angel compared to the people I hated. Carson. I attempted to wipe my tears away, but he didn't let me, just getting down on one knee and doing it himself. He looked me right in the eyes as he did this, just the way as he had before, and we just stared at each other again. "Don't tell me you heard that entire conversation," I somehow managed to whisper. I could feel myself turning red...from embarrassment.

"You were being pretty loud," he pointed out. He broke his gaze, looking down at my cheeks and still wiping my tears away with his thumb, and I was blinking repeatedly, trying to make them go away. "Lani left after we heard you scream the first time, but I stayed. I figured you needed a friend." He looked right at me again and held out his arm. "Come here."

I nearly hesitated. I almost never allowed anyone to touch me, and if they did by accident, they always mumbled a quick apology since they knew how much I hated physical contact. However...this was different. This was Carson, my closest friend here and possibly everywhere, and he wanted to comfort me.

So I let him hold me on that dirty, beige-colored carpeted floor, and he held me close, like we were hovering over a volcano and he couldn't let me go, as I began to cry again. "Shh," he would whisper if I let out a whimper. "It's okay. It's okay."

By him holding me like that...I could _feel _how much he cared. And not only in a physical way...but in an emotional way, too. He hated to see me upset. He had made that clear from the first day we had met even though I had informed him he was an asshole. He never gave up on me. And, well...I was grateful for that.

And maybe I was wrong about the true, faithful friends earlier. Maybe they _could _possibly exist for me. _No_, I decided as Carson held me closer, stroking my hair gently and continuing to tell me that everything was okay. _They _can _exist. And they definitely do._

* * *

**Well. And to think I thought Adyson and her mom's scene in **_**Unexpected **_**was going to be the most emotional thing I had ever written. Clearly not.**

**So, next chapter's an intense one, too, because in that one, you'll find out Savannah's entire story as well as what everyone is hiding from Savannah about Carson. So prepare yourselves for that one, too.**


	13. Getting the Truth Out

To this day, I have no idea how long Carson and I sat there in the middle of that restaurant. All I know is that it was longer than it should have been, because by the time he pulled away from me (reluctantly) and we glanced out the window, it was pitch black. When I had first had my meltdown, the sun was still setting outside. Realizing this, we both stood up quickly, and I took my last deep breath. While I wasn't crying anymore, I was still traumatized by what had happened. "You okay?" Carson wondered quietly, holding out his hands as if I were going to break down again.

But I wasn't. I wouldn't let myself do something like that ever again. I sniffled, giving him a satisfied smile. "I'm fine," I informed him, crossing my arms because of how cold I suddenly got. It had to have been because Carson's arms were so warm...not that that mattered or anything. "Believe me, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Geez, he _still _sounded concerned, but not in the way in which he would talk to me like I was a baby. "Are you sure you don't...I don't know, want to get some ice cream or something?" He shot me a sheepish smile, shrugging at the same time.

I looked at him strangely. "No offense, but...why would I want to get ice cream?"

"Because ice cream cheers people up." He held out his hand. "Come on, seriously, let me take you."

"Well..." I hesitated. I knew none of the Reid family would notice or care if I wasn't back at the house, and besides, I figured that if they were really that concerned about me, they would have come back here to try and find me. So I smiled at Carson again and grabbed his hand, giving him his answer.

My hand fit really well in his...

* * *

"You act like you've never had ice cream before," Carson said jokingly. We were the only ones in the place, seeing as it was apparently almost ten o'clock, and we were in a booth opposite of one another. Since it was so late at night for me, I just got a little cup of chocolate while he did the same, only with some weird flavor that I couldn't pronounce the name of.

I was picking at my ice cream with a spoon. I would have a nibble every now and then, but he was right; I wasn't really eating a whole lot of it. "It's just been a while, that's all," I quietly informed him. Other than the humming of the ice cream machines and the muttering of the two employees working there in the back, it was completely silent in the place.

"It's been a while since you had ice cream?" Carson said in reply to what I told him. His eyebrows, which were brown unlike the rest of his hair, rose.

I shrugged, now feeling uneasy. "My family doesn't have a lot of money, so...treats like ice cream were pretty rare." I let out a chuckle that sounded obviously fake. "I usually depended on the people I hung out with for that kind of stuff. They were cool with it, but...it was kind of embarrassing."

"Why?" He dug his spoon into his ice cream and only bit part of it off. He was one of those people that took a giant spoonful of ice cream, only to take little bites of that giant spoonful, then. "They just wanted to be friendly with you."

"I understand that." I took another nibble. "But it was still embarrassing. Especially when the not-so-nice people of our group would notice that I didn't have money. Sometimes, they would comment on my clothes and stuff like that and say that I looked homeless. Little did they know..." I bit my lip, fighting back tears. I was _not _going to start crying in front of Carson, again. "At one point, I was."

Carson's eyes widened, and he nearly dropped his spoon before placing it hastily in the container. "_What_?" he said, sounded more shocked than I had ever heard him.

I sighed. I hadn't ever told my entire story to anyone, not even to Ginger back when we were still best friends. But for some reason, I felt...a sort of connection with Carson that I hadn't with anyone else before. I felt like I could fully be myself around him and didn't have to always act like some sarcastic bitch. "I'll tell you everything," I whispered, leaning across the table and staring right into his eyes. "As in, everything. But you can't tell _anyone. _Do you understand?"

"I don't have anyone to tell," he whispered back, biting his lip and suddenly looking ashamed.

"Well, in this case, that's a good thing." I turned around to see the people that were working there, but they were paying no attention to us. Since this place was open twenty-four hours, none of them really looked that tired.

I then returned my attention to Carson, and took a deep breath. I now had to trust him with all of my secrets, of my entire past. But deep down inside, I knew this was the right thing to do. "All right. So, um...I'm going to start at the _very _beginning. So, I was born here in the Tri-State Area. Not here, not Danville, but that third part of the Tri-State Area. See, I was extremely shy as a kid. I'm still not very social today, but back then...I wouldn't even say a word to _anyone_. In preschool, instead of trying to make friends, I would play with the stuffed animals somewhere and never participated in anything.

"So, when I reached elementary school, I was so used to not caring about what anyone did and just wanted to do my own thing. Because of this stubbornness that I had acquired, I almost never got good grades on anything and never made one friend. So, my parents, both being tired of this, told me that we would move to another district so that I could 'start over'." I used quotes in the air for this. "So, when I was eleven, we packed up and moved to Danville. There, I joined the Fireside Girls because of being forced by my mother, and made my very first friend: Ginger Hirano."

Carson smiled.

"However," The smile disappeared. "Around this time, my parents were beginning to have problems with each other. I'm sure as hell that they wanted a divorce; the arguments they had at night would get so bad. I could hear them. But they didn't do anything about it because they figured I was already going through so much stress, so..." I hesitated. "They stayed together."

He gave me a confused look, so I continued.

"They didn't know that I could hear all of their conversations at night. So, one day, after my mom had already gone to work, I confronted my father about it. He responded by..." I took in a shuddery breath. "Yelling at me and, well, basically threatening to hurt me. He also told me I was worthless to him and my mom."

He gaped, but still said nothing.

"I left the room after that, but after that day..." I gulped. My tone began to get softer, as I was struggling not to cry at all of the memories that were now haunting me. "Nothing was ever the same. Now, every time my mom left, my father would take a drink, and then he would yell at me about nothing, calling me names and, well, cussing at me. That's where I kind of got my cussing problem from. And, a couple months after he first did that...he threw me against a wall for the first time."

Carson covered his mouth with both hands, looking absolutely horrified.

"You see this scar?" I unzipped my hoodie and then rolled up the sleeve of my T-shirt, where a giant, Harry Potter lightning-shaped scar lay on my shoulder. Carson gasped. "That's from him banging a beer bottle against me after he threw me against a wall. I had to hide it from my mom and everything, Needless to say...that was not easy."

"My God," he whispered. He looked as if he wanted to vomit.

"But once my mom got home, he would stop threatening me. Often, I would go over to Ginger's or one of the other people in our group's houses, just to stay away from him. But the times that I couldn't...I got a lot of bruises." Carson shook his head, looking at me almost in pain. I tried to ignore this. "So, to hide them from everyone, I would always cover myself up. Even in summer." I sighed. "I remember when Vienna accused me of cutting myself...good times, good times. And no, I never did. Not on purpose, anyway.

"So, all of this went on for six years, until one day at the breakfast table when my mom saw that I had several bruises on my arm from the day before. She demanded to know where the hell I got them, and my father admitted that he did it. She pretty much lost her sanity at that point, and ordered him out of the house. So, he left.

"But that didn't mean that was a good thing. One day, the bank arrived at our door and basically told us to get out. Apparently...in order to avoid being caught for what he had done, my father had moved away. To Asia, not just another city around here. And when he did that...he took pretty much all of the money we had. So we were now homeless, all because of him."

Carson rested his head in one of his hands, looking overwhelmed.

"We ended up moving to a homeless shelter while my mom tried to find a job. She, unfortunately, had been laid off. And while all of this happened, I tried to keep it a secret from everyone, even those that I was closest to, like Ginger. But, of course, she and I were having problems, too." I exhaled, rubbing the corner of my eye. By that point, the ice cream that was in front of me had completely melted. "Basically, she had become popular and this gossip queen, while I continued to be a loner.

"Yet...being the stupid person that I was, I still told her about me being homeless. And you want to know what she did? She told the _school board _about it. So now, the school knew that my life was pathetic, too. I was so upset that when she told me this in a mall, I pretty much exploded on her. If you couldn't already tell...we stopped being friends.

"So, fast forward to a year after that. My mom had managed to get a job at this library, and we were now able to afford an apartment. A crappy apartment, at that, but it was still a place to live. She had told me that my father had gotten in contact with her, and she said he had given us money, so she wanted to use that money to start a business." I looked up at the ceiling. "I'm sure you already knew this, but...none of that was true, and if you heard our whole conversation, you know why. So, now I'm here, because of that."

I sat back now, having finished, and...almost felt this sense of relief flow over me. I had told someone...literally everything about myself. I didn't have to hide anything about myself anymore, at least, from Carson. I was free. I was a free United States citizen. At least, in my mind I was.

Carson, after being sure I was done, leaned back against his side of the booth, as well. He looked stunned. "...Wow," he said after a moment's hesitation. "You _did _have a sucky life. I'm so sorry."

I looked at him strangely. "Why are you sorry?" I asked him, shaking my head. "You had nothing to do with any of that."

"I know." He looked at me, really looked at me, and I found myself staring back. This was starting to become a regular thing, I realized, and each time...I minded it less. "It's just..." He shook his head. "A great girl like you shouldn't have to go through all of that crap in so little time. Or...any amount of time, really."

I found myself beginning to flush. Wait...why was I turning pink? "Well, um...thanks?" I really didn't know how else to respond.

"But, because you told me all that..." He looked down at the table and rested his gaze onto his ice cream, which was also melted. "I feel like you deserve to know _my _story. Or, rather...the story that everyone keeps hiding from you."

I glanced up, quickly. "Carson," I tried to explain. "You really don't have to-"

"Oh, but I do. You'll find out about it eventually, anyway. Frankly, I'm shocked that no one's told you yet." Now it was his turn to see if any employees were listening, but nope, they weren't. The clock nearby us read half past ten, and we were still the only customers in the place. "October 31st of not last year, but the year before that. Yes, Halloween night. I've never really liked to dress up, and plus, I was eighteen years old. So, instead of doing something for Halloween, I decided to take my girlfriend at the time over to my place. Just for um...some fun."

"You had a girlfriend? A serious one?" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun." He rolled his eyes, though his face looked a little pained. "So, anyway, I was driving her back, and...it started to rain. And rain hard. I could barely see through the windshield. And..." He took a very deep breath, and he was biting his lip down so hard that I thought it was going to split open at any second. "It wasn't long... before another car... came crashing right into us." Carson shut his eyes tight and clenched his hands into fists. "It wasn't pretty."

My hands came flying up to my mouth. "Oh my God...were you-"

"_I _was fine." His voice tightened, and his eyes opened, again. "Other than a mild concussion. But Amber, my girlfriend?" He paused for about a minute, looking away from me as he whispered what came next. "She was killed at the scene."

"No," I whispered.

"Yes." He cleared his throat. "The other driver was fine, and I knew he didn't mean to do it, since it was storming outside, plus, he was sober and was clearly very upset by what happened. So he was granted not being guilty in court, but still had to do things like community service, which he openly accepted."

"But why does everyone hate you?" I wondered, my voice cracking.

"Because Amber was like, everyone's friend." He nodded, still refusing to look at me. "And one of the most popular girls in school. But she didn't, like, show off the fact that she was. She was nice to everyone, and everyone liked her. So, since I was dating her, everyone liked me too. But, after the accident which I apparently was a part of according to the school gossip chain...well, everyone thought it was my fault.

"So I was shunned by pretty much everyone. And it's still that way today. Lani and Cass were the only ones who stuck by me at work. Everyone else in there is still holding a grudge against me today, except sort of Wes and Mitch. But they're still not the same friends that they used to be. It's always awkward whenever we do stuff together, because they don't really trust me anymore. No one does."

"Carson." I blinked back tears. "That's terrible. Everything that you said...is terrible. I'm so sorry."

"I know, and nah, you don't have to be." He shrugged. "I've learned that the best thing to do when someone doesn't like you is to just keep being yourself around them, and they may eventually accept you." He smiled, just a little. "Like in your situation."

I gave him a crooked half-smile, which went to a full-out smile after he looked down and stroked one of my fingers, which were all resting on the table. His fingers were so warm. "And well, if someone still doesn't like me after that? Then that's their problem."

I don't know what prompted me to do what I did next, seeing as I never did this, but I stood up, beckoning him to do the same, too. He looked confused, but obliged, and then, right there in the middle of that restaurant, I hugged him.

Yes. I, Savannah Schumacher, just hugged a guy as if it were something I always did. He tensed up for a second, but then relaxed, hugging me by holding my lower back while my arms were wrapped around his neck. It...was just so comfortable. It almost felt...normal. Like what we were doing was the right thing.

After maybe five minutes of just holding each other so delicately, like we were pieces of china that were hundreds of years old, we released each other, still holding on to each other lightly, and did what had become our stare, the stare that brought us even closer together. I suddenly felt like I was being pulled towards him, like I was a positive charge and he was a negative charge, and we were being pulled together like magnets. Without even thinking, I found myself leaning in...

Only to be released completely, charges no longer opposite of one another. I stood there, stunned by what had just happened, and just about hit myself in the head. Oh my God. Did I seriously just almost _kiss _Carson Zales? "So." He cleared his throat. "We um...should probably be heading back." So he felt that attraction, too.

"Y-Yeah." I cleared my throat as well, trying not to sound as fazed and lightheaded as I was. "Yeah, that um, yeah. That sounds cool."

"Cool." He picked up his container of ice cream, taking it to a trash can and throwing what was left away. It had to be warm by that point, anyway, so there was no point in trying to eat it. "Real cool."

"Yeah. Super cool." I threw mine away, too, and with that, we went back outside, back into Carson's car, on our way to being forced back into reality.

Not one word was said on the way back to the Reid's place.

* * *

**...Yay for awkward moments! So, it looks like someone's starting to have feelings for a certain someone...hmm. ****And as you can see, there will be no more flashbacks to Savannah's life at the beginning of the chapters. Now that she's told her story, they just simply aren't needed, anymore.**

**Not sure if there will be more updates between now and the fifth of August, seeing as that's when I'll be going on vacation, but we'll see.**


	14. Quitting

"It's alright, everybody," Carson announced as soon as he came into the restaurant half an hour before it opened. It was the next day, and I was groggy, seeing as it had taken me an hour to fall asleep after I had gotten home, therefore, I had had pretty much no sleep whatsoever. But of course, Carson seemed to be the exact opposite. "Savannah knows about..._it, _now, so we're good."

Mitch's eyes widened as his head snapped up from where it was gazing down at the bar he was sitting at, and he instantly turned around, as did everyone else, and gaped. "You told her about-"

"Yes, I told her about Amber." Carson cleared his throat, as everyone turned to each other and started to whisper whatever to each other. Mitch, meanwhile, simply just looked stunned as his sort-of friend walked up to him and gave him a stare. "And you didn't think I would have the nerve to do it, did you, Mitch?"

"Well...I..." He looked at a loss for words, and I looked at Carson, grinning at him. He grinned back, having noticed me almost immediately.

"Hey, Savannah," he greeted me, sounding much nicer than when he had been confronting Mitch. His face was bright and happy-looking, and for some reason, the sight of him made my heart pound.

"Hi, Carson," I said, trying not to sound overly excited for the sake of everyone around us. "So, um-"

Suddenly, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and I stopped talking, giving him a sheepish smile. "One sec," I informed him, pulling my phone out of my pocket and glancing at the screen, at the little message that popped up on it. Upon seeing who it was, I bit my lip down hard, turning it off and shoving it back into my jeans pocket.

Carson looked at me curiously. By this point, everyone else had gotten bored of his 'news', Mitch included, and had all gone back to work, at least, with what work there was to be done in the morning before the restaurant would even open. "Who was it?" he whispered, leaning in slightly closer to me, but not as close as we had been the night before, when it had gotten all awkward. Yet, this time...it still kind of was.

I chose to ignore this, just turning away so that it wouldn't look like anything suspicious was going on between us. I hated getting involved in any kind of unnecessary drama, and I didn't need people to start any kind for me. "It's just my mom," I informed him, shaking my head and closing my eyes in pain at the thought of her. I still couldn't believe that I had cursed her out the way I had, even though she hadn't heard a good portion of it. And had deserved it. "She keeps texting me about...what happened."

I stood up from my seat at the bar and tried to go into the kitchen, but Carson stopped me, grabbing my wrist. I felt something in my chest, some sort of...feeling that felt almost like someone had just shoved me, but in a playful, fun way. Only Carson had ever given me that sensation, and the first time I had felt it was the night before. Now I was feeling it again. It was so odd, but so satisfying at the same time. It's difficult to explain exactly what feelings I was struggling to keep contained inside of me.

"Savannah," he said after a few seconds of the lingering silence in the air. He released my wrist, one finger at a time, and stepped back a few inches, as if something deadly was right behind me and he wanted to run away. He tugged at a portion of the top of his ear, refusing to look directly at me, now. He began to speak again. "What...um... exactly did your mom say?"

At the mention of my mom, I snapped out of the rather strange thoughts I was thinking, having those strange thoughts be replaced by angry, menacing ones. "...Oh." I said after a moment's hesitation, fighting myself to stop looking right at him and instead taking my phone out again. Why _couldn't _I stop looking at him, and when I did, it almost felt...painful? "Um...well, um, I'm not sure. I...haven't looked at the texts yet." Why was I stammering like an idiot?

"Ah." He cleared his throat. "Well, maybe you should read them. Maybe...it'll make you feel better."

I nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good." Anything to make me go back to acting like myself again, I would take at that point. Even if it meant acknowledging my mother. So, taking a deep breath, I turned the phone on again, which immediately went to the texts that had been sent. Carson came over and peered over my shoulder as I examined each one, and I said nothing to him about it. He knew my whole story, anyway. I had nothing to hide.

Number One: _Savannah, I don't appreciate what you said to me last night, and I did hang up on purpose. You know that you aren't supposed to say things like that to me._

Number Two: _You will be in trouble when you get back._

Number Three: _But I just want you to know that I didn't go back to your father because I wanted to hurt you. He's changed for the better, sweetie, and I wanted to tell that to you, but unfortunately, you went hysterical before I could. _

Number Four: _Just because he didn't do good things in the past doesn't mean good things can't happen now. It's been a long time. Just give him a chance._

"Hell, no." I turned the phone off, my hand shaking in rage. "That's all bullshit. Absolute _bullshit_." I wanted to throw the phone, but I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone, so, clenching my other fist, I shoved the phone deep down inside of my pocket, again.

Carson looked at me uncertainly. He didn't touch me this time, since he knew that people were now watching us, Mel included, who was beckoning us into the kitchen. The place would open in another fifteen minutes. "How is it bullshit?" he whispered as we both walked into the kitchen, me in front of him as we went to our usual spot at the table. He made his tone even softer, since Wes was only a couple of feet away from us preparing the base for the tomato sauce that was used on practically everything in the place. "Maybe your mom knows what she's talking about."

"Carson. We're talking about my _mother, _here." I took some of the dry ingredients we would need for the day out of the pantry, spreading them around across the table and being careful not to brush up against him and embarrass both of us. My voice was just as soft as his was. "She doesn't know what the frick she's talking about ninety percent of the time, and when she does, it's to tell me something that she lied to me about earlier." I shook my head. "I guarantee that she'll find something else to be pissed off at me about, or vice versa, anytime soon. The cycle never ends."

He looked like he wanted to reply, but before he could, he was interrupted by a loud banging of a door opening. We all looked at each other, alarmed, and Mel, being the only one with free hands, glanced out the door of the kitchen. She looked back at us, eyes widened, and that gave us the message that we all needed to see what was going on. We all quickly made our way over the door, crowding behing Mel, and what we saw made one of the guys chortle and for one of the others to clap his hand over his mouth.

Standing at the doorway of the restaurant...was Reed. In nothing but a T-shirt and his boxers. Mitch was looking at him in disgust as we all went into the lobby and out of the crowded kitchen entrance. "He _does _know guys don't actually go around parading in their underwear, right?" he said out loud while we did this, as if Reed wasn't even there.

Avery, Mila, and Harper all ignored him, or maybe they just couldn't hear him because of how unintelligent they already were. I was going to go with the latter option for my own amusement. "Oh my good God Lord," Avery sighed under her breath, leaning over the podium and staring at Reed as he walked over to the bar, went behind it, and got himself a beer. She flipped her hair, as if it would suddenly make her attractive to anyone. "Isn't he _so _frickin' hot, Mila?"

"_So _frickin' hot, Avery." Mila fanned herself and turned to Harper. "Right, Harper?"

"So hot," Harper agreed, nodding like usual and adjusting her glasses, which were slipping down her nose because they were so large.

I swore, every time they did this, it got more and more hilarious. Because it just got more and more stupid.

"Dude...why are you in your underwear?" Lani asked from where she was standing several feet away from the other hostesses. She had a disgusted look on her face. I couldn't help but look at Wes as she spoke, and sure enough, he was looking right at her, an almost dreamy expression on his face.

Well...as dreamy as a guy can look, anyway.

"Because," Reed finally spoke, holding out his beer in front of him and standing oddly close to Cass' door that she was in as the manager. "I'm planning on quitting my job today."

"But," another waitress named June spoke up as we all gaped at him. "Why?"

"Because I don't like it here." Reed shrugged. "I don't think it needs a bigger explanation. You all are dumbasses, and I don't like to be around dumbasses." He looked at Cheyenne, Lani, and Mel, all of whom looked unamused. "That goes for you all, too."

What a frickin' hypocrite. "And you plan on doing that by cosplaying as Captain Underpants?" I asked him, crossing my arms and keeping a smug smile on my face. He was going to need cold water for _that_ burn.

He narrowed his eyes at me as the other employees started to snicker. Carson punched me lightly on the shoulder from where he was standing beside me, smiling at me and nodding. "You can't threaten me-" Reed began, but this time, _he _was the one that was being interrupted.

Because standing literally right behind him was no one other than his mother, who looked absolutely mortified. "Reed Reid," was what she said, glaring at him, hand on her hip. "You're twenty-three years old. What the hell are you doing?" She looked down, noticing the beer, and after snatching it out of his hand, handed it to Mitch. "Mitchell, put this bottle back in the fridge, please."

As Mitch did as told, she returned her attention onto her son, waiting for an answer. "Quitting my job," he told her, shrugging, as if all he was telling her was that he just ate a hot dog. "And I didn't feel like putting clothes on for only like, five minutes, so I came here like this. I-"

She slapped him across the face. "You're kidding, right?" she asked him while her hand was still in midair, and he stood there, hardly fazed by what she did even though the rest of us were staring at Cass in awe. "You just want to act like a kid and play video games and eat crap all day rather than try to make a living for yourself?"

"Mom." He rolled his eyes. "You expect me to make a living here?"

"Not forever, no." She lowered her hand. "But you're missing the point. At this time, you should be out of college and actually starting to have a _life _outside of this house. Yet, where are you? In the basement of our home."

"I like the basement," he said, his voice beginning to raise. "Maybe I don't want to get a job. Why can't I just do what I want? I _am _an adult now, technically."

"Age wise, you are. Maturity wise, you're anything but." Cass exhaled. You could just hear how pissed she was not only by her facial expression, but by the way her jawline was clenched and her voice was almost shrill. "I'm telling you right now, mister, if you don't clean up your act...you'll be kicked out of the basement."

"But," Reed tried to protest, now looking horrified while the rest of us all looked at each other, all more stunned than the person next to us. I wouldn't have thought Cass would ever get like this. "Mom-"

"Uh uh. No buts. Get a job somewhere else, or don't ever have a life." Cass gave him that smile that parents give their children when they know they're right, but just don't want to say it with those exact words. "You've got a week. Do you understand?"

Her son said nothing in reply, just turning around, pushing open the door, and exiting the place. We could hear him yell from outside.

"Good Lord," she muttered after we all saw Reed go into the house, slamming the door behind him. She ran her fingers through the curls she had in her side ponytail. She said nothing else more, just going back into her office again and closing the door quietly.

We all looked at each other, uncertain of what to do. Cheyenne, of course, took charge, clapping her hands together and clasping them in front of her chest. "Back to work, people," she instructed, and the waitresses, waiters, and hostesses (minus Lani) did as told. Wes looked like he wanted to say something, but then changed his mind, going back into the kitchen. Mitch followed him, but not before nodding at his secret girlfriend and winking. She smiled slightly in return before also returning to work.

As usual, it was now just Carson, Lani, and I, standing there awkwardly in the middle of the lobby just the way we had yesterday. I broke the silence this time. "So," I said to Lani. We hadn't had what seemed like a real conversation in a while. "Not to be rude, but...how are you coping?" I said this specifically with Wes in mind.

Lani shrugged. "I'm still not great," she admitted, also looking at Carson, who gave her a sympathetic look. She smiled a little in return. "But I feel a little better. It's been nice to have some support."

"Has Wes said anything to you?" I blurted out. I then closed my eyes, mentally smacking myself in the head, while Carson, while not looking annoyed, was looking more confused as to why I said it. I didn't know why I said anything, either.

She looked confused, as well. "Honestly, he's never said anything to me," she said slowly, glancing into the kitchen, where we saw that Wes was looking at her. He flushed slightly, going back to chopping up what seemed to be more tomatoes than necessary. "But he always acts weird around me. Why? Is there something I should know ab-"

"No." I chuckled nervously, looking instead at Carson but managing to avoid his eyes. "No, no, not at all. Oh, wait, I just remembered that _we have bread in the oven and I have to get it_." I said this last part while leaning my head towards the kitchen.

Mitch wrinkled his nose from where he was standing. "But we don't-"

"Yep, yep, lots of bread." Okay, I had to get out of there. I was a wreck. "So, yeah. Heh heh. See ya."

With that, I darted into the kitchen, cursing myself for being stupid. I had been acting stupid all day. First with Carson, though that was for a different reason that actually made sense, and now with Lani?

What was _wrong _with me?


	15. On Hiatus

First off, I apologize if you thought this was an update. Well, it's not. It's an announcement.

This story is now on hiatus.

Honestly...I dislike writing this story, for many reasons that I wish not to go into, as it would bore you to death. I would rather just stick to the point. So, that said, all I will say is that since I do not know where I want this story to end up or what to do with it, I will simply do as said above-put it on hiatus.

I _would _cancel it, but I personally dislike when authors cancel stories without warning. So...here's my warning that it may happen for this one. May is the key word. Maybe someday, I'll want to write this again. But as of right now...I just can't do it.

There's me starting my sophomore year, which is stressful enough as it is, some other medical problems I'm having (nothing _too_ serious, don't worry), and then of course, there's the dreaded writer's block. Writing this is like a chore to add to whatever else I have to deal with in my life, and that's why I'm putting this story on hiatus for an unknown amount of time.

I'm sorry if you were enjoying this, I truly am, but it's not good for me right now. Please accept that, the very few of you that will read this note from me to you, and understand that while I _want _to write this as well as anything else I come up with...I just can't.

Again, I apologize, but know that from here on out...I am taking a break from writing this story.

Michi41~


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